Any L1 Trauma Nurses Out There

[ctsurgeryscrubrn]

Was just wondering how you like working in an L1 Trauma Center. I did a rotation in our L1 Trauma OR, so mostly only came down to the bay if we opened down there. Otherwise, I was setting up and getting the room ready for the impending chaos.

[PeakRN]

I used to work in a level I peds trauma center. Most of our trauma were transfers and field trauma were very rare. Since there are so many people who respond to the trauma alerts each participant gets a much smaller piece of the pie compared to most other trauma levels. The most trauma I saw was at a level II center, but I still saw more at level IV centers than when I was at the level I.

I don't think that trauma is very difficult or challenging, although there are many programs whose outcomes would disprove my opinion. Personally I prefer complex medical cases over trauma.

[KeepinitrealCCRN]

So it depends on the hospital you work in. I work in SICU and I love it but the sickest patients tend to be the neuro or surgical ones. The trauma patients can be as simple as a fall with a bleed in the brain that were just monitoring. If it is just a trauma ICU then you might like that but if it is SICU with mixed patient populations you might not be into the neuro and surgical pts which I love personally.

To add on to the previous post a lot of the trauma patients even the ones that are flown in via helicopter go through the ER and then to the OR and then come to you so they are relatively stable but can still be unpredictable but as I mentioned a lot of the trauma pts are not this type but more the simple fall with bleed and maybe a few broken bones (not exciting to me).

[cakeandcrown, BSN, RN]

I love working in a Level 1! I work in SICU, so our patients are a mix of surgical and trauma (open hearts and neuro each have their own units), but a nurse from my unit is required to respond to all Level 1 trauma activations in the ER. It's busy and chaotic, but I have learned a ton.