Life After Trauma: A Survey of Level 1 Trauma Centers Regarding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder Patients admitted to Level 1 trauma centers in the United States are rarely assessed for or educated about the potentially devastating effects of acute stress disorder (ASD) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This descriptive research was conducted to describe current levels of assessment and education of ASD and PTSD in Level 1 trauma centers in the United States. The aims of this article are to (1) determine the extent to which Level 1 trauma centers in the United States assess and educate patients and providers about ASD and PTSD and (2) identify clinical staff who administer assessments and provide educational resources. A web-based survey was distributed to the trauma program managers and trauma medical directors of 209 adult and 70 pediatric Level 1 trauma centers in the United States. For PTSD, 26 (25.00%) adult and 17 (36.17%) pediatric centers had an assessment protocol for use with trauma patients. For ASD, 13 (12.50%) adult and 13 (27.66%) pediatric centers utilized an assessment protocol for use with trauma patients. For PTSD, 12 (12.37%) adult and 8 (20.00%) pediatric centers offered educational protocols for use with trauma patients. Seven (7.22%) adult and 7 (17.50%) pediatric centers maintain educational protocols for ASD in trauma patients. Fewer centers had assessment or educational protocols targeting formal and informal caregivers. This study was limited to Level 1 trauma centers in the United States. Results indicate that trauma patients are rarely assessed for or educated about the potential effects of PTSD or ASD. Formal and informal caregivers are also assessed and educated at low rates. Assessment, education, and incidence of PTSD and ASD should be included as universally measured health outcomes across trauma centers. Renew and Refocus No abstract available Transitions No abstract available

Life After Trauma: A Survey of Level 1 Trauma Centers Regarding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder No abstract available

Minimizing Time to Plasma Administration and Fresh Frozen Plasma Waste: A Multimodal Approach to Improve Massive Transfusion at a Level 1 Trauma Center Massive transfusion protocols are part of damage control resuscitation for hemorrhaging trauma patients with the goal of returning the patient to hemodynamic stability. It is essential that patients receive blood products immediately and in the proper ratios. At our metropolitan Level 1 trauma center, we identified several challenges to deploying massive transfusion rapidly and within the recommended ratio guidelines. In 2016, we implemented a quality improvement project addressing 4 opportunities: fresh frozen plasma (FFP) bag breakage, plasma options, blood bank equipment, and multidisciplinary policy revision. Implementing packaging and shipping improvements, utilization of new products, and updating protocols have resulted in a 50% decrease in FFP bag breakage rates, a dramatic decrease in time for patients receiving massive transfusion to receive plasma products (mean time 3.5 min), and patients being administered the recommended ratio of blood products.

Minimizing Time to Plasma Administration and Fresh Frozen Plasma Waste: A Multimodal Approach to Improve Massive Transfusion at a Level 1 Trauma Center No abstract available

Identifying Targets to Improve Coding of Child Physical Abuse at a Pediatric Trauma Center Child physical abuse is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in young children. Identification of abused children is challenging, and can affect risk-adjusted benchmarking of trauma center performance. The purpose of this project was to understand diagnosis coding capture rates for child abuse and develop a standardized approach to clinician documentation to improve trauma registry capture. A retrospective cohort was obtained including all admitted trauma patients with injuries from known or suspected abusive mechanism in 2017. Patients who received forensic workup for child physical abuse were classified as “no abuse,” “suspected abuse,” and “confirmed abuse” using narratives from social work notes. Our trauma registry was used to abstract International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnostic and external cause codes for each patient. Abuse classifications defined by chart review were then compared with coding in the registry using crosstabs. A total of 115 patients were identified as having a forensic workup for child physical abuse. Patients who underwent forensic workup were classified as: 40% no abuse, 37% suspected abuse, and 23% confirmed abuse at the time of discharge. Three patients (6%) with a negative forensic workup were overcoded as suspected abuse in our trauma registry. Among patients with clinically confirmed abuse, our trauma registry identified only 63% by diagnostic codes and only 33% by external cause codes. Child physical abuse is frequently undercoded, and clear clinical documentation of the level of suspicion of abuse at discharge is needed to accurately identify abused patients.

Customizing Trauma Nursing Education to Incorporate All Departments: A Cost-Effective Way to Educate Nurses From Every Trauma-Associated Unit Trauma education is crucial for optimizing the outcomes of trauma patients. Available trauma nursing education courses are not inclusive of all areas that a trauma patient may interact with but are targeted toward subsets of nurses who care for trauma patients. In addition, these courses can be costly for organizations and often divert resources away from departments for several days. We identified a need for convenient, cost-effective trauma nursing education delivered such that all nursing units that care for trauma patients would benefit. Based on data collected from needs assessments and literature reviews, content experts from many specialties developed and delivered content via interactive lectures, discussion panel, large group activities, case studies, and skills stations. Four internal courses were offered in 2018 with a total of 141 attendees. This resulted in cost savings of up to $86,715 when compared to external trauma courses. Attendees rated the courses very good or excellent (84.00%–95.23%). On average, 99.59% of the activity learning objectives were met, and 91.42% of learners intended to make changes to professional practice. Engaging key resources within an organization to deploy an internal approach to trauma nursing education can be valuable, cost-effective, and accessible to a broader nursing audience, inclusive of all units that care for trauma patients.

Female Suffering After Blunt Trauma and the Need to be Cared for and Cared About Using a phenomenological design, the researcher repeated a previous study of males, this time exploring the question of what is the experience of suffering voiced by female patients 6–12 months after hospitalization for blunt trauma. Eleven female volunteers were interviewed and asked questions about how they suffered, what made their suffering more or less bearable, and how they were transformed through their suffering. Like the males, female participants experienced changes in patterns resulting in perceptions of suffering. Participants reported mostly experiencing physical, emotional, and social forms of suffering, whereas fewer participants experienced economic and spiritual suffering. Experiences of suffering resulted from the threat to their sense of wholeness because of their injuries. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors made participants' suffering more or less bearable as they regained or revised their shattered wholeness. Positive attitude and motivation were significant intrinsic factors, whereas quality supportive care was the most significant extrinsic factor. Feeling cared about emotionally was as important as feeling cared for physically in helping participants better bear their suffering. Poor quality care was a significant negative extrinsic factor resulting in suffering being made more unbearable. Through their experiences of suffering and finding meaning in that suffering, participants were transformed, amending their previous state and resulting in a new state of wholeness. Knowledge gained through this phenomenological study may help nurses understand suffering and guide their care and caring to alleviate it or make it more bearable.

Factors Associated With Interhospital Transfer of Trauma Victims This study aimed to identify the factors associated with interhospital transfer of trauma victims treated in the emergency department of a nontertiary hospital. Retrospective analysis of medical records of trauma victims treated from January to July 2014 in the emergency department of a hospital not specialized in trauma care and located in Brazil was undertaken. The inclusion criteria were as follows: being 15 years or older; being a trauma victim; having received prehospital care; and being admitted to the hospital directly from the scene of the accident. Pearson's chi-square, Mann–Whitney U, Fisher's exact tests, and multiple logistic regression were used in the analyses. The sample was made up of 246 patients, mostly men (67.9%) and blunt trauma victims (97.6%). The mean age of the trauma victims was 44.2 (SD = 22.1). Falls were the most frequent external cause (41.1%). Forty patients were transferred to a tertiary care center, mostly for orthopedic treatment (70%). The factors associated with interhospital transfer of victims were severity of the trauma according to the Injury Severity Score ([ISS]; mean ±SD of ISS = 8.1 ± 4.5; odds ratio = 1.14; 95% confidence interval [1.06, 1.24]; p = .001) and extremities/pelvic girdle as the body region most severely injured (mean ±SD of extremities/pelvic girdle Abbreviated Injury Scale score = 2.9 ± 0.5; odds ratio = 3.86; 95% confidence interval [1.71, 8.72; p = .001). Identification of the risk factors for interhospital transfer of trauma victims treated in hospitals without a trauma center provides important information for the creation of referral and counter-referral policies to facilitate the process and ensure definitive early treatment and improved patient survival.