Emergency Nursing Care Outside of the Hospital

[sarasrr2]

Hello all! So, I'm a new nurse and one of the things that has me rather freaked is rolling up onto a vehicle crash (or any such event) and giving emergency nursing care. I was wondering if there are any really great websites, books, or other resources that can provide nursing care outlines for such events. Any tips would, also, be so much appreciated and thank you very much in advance!

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Should such an event happen and you are on the scene you don't need a manual or textbook to provide instructions. All you need is first aid training, which as a nurse I am assuming you are required to keep current. You are not a trained first responder. You wouldn't have all the emergency medical equipment or the education a first responder has. All you really can [and should] do is call 911 and provide basic first aid as able.

[Wuzzie]

Should such an event happen and you are on the scene you don't need a manual or textbook to provide instructions. All you need is first aid training, which as a nurse I am assuming you are required to keep current. You are not a trained first responder. You wouldn't have all the emergency medical equipment or the education a first responder has. All you really can [and should] do is call 911 and provide basic first aid as able.

Not a requirement in my state and am unaware of any state that has it. The American Red Cross used to have a community first aid course but not sure if they still do. That being said the best you can do is to prevent further injury (to yourself or the victim), maintain ABC's and stop any life threatening bleeding. Otherwise your best tool is your phone.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

It's a very real scenario and I applaud the OP for asking the question. When I was in nursing school I did indeed come across (and actually witness) an accident on my way home one night. It was dark and two cars had collided. Both drivers were in shock and remained in their vehicle so I got out and went over to check them. I couldn't drive past anyhow as the road was blocked by their cars. This was the days before cell phones but someone in a nearby house ran back in to call 911 (actually it was 999 because this was in London lol). I stayed with the driver who was most seriously injured and kept him talking, told him not to move his head. I tried to see if there was any uncontrolled bleeding and asked him if he had hit his head. He was complaining of back and neck pain. I kept him talking, asking him where he was from and about his family just to keep him calm. EMS arrived and I held his head straight while they cut the roof off of his vehicle so that he wouldn't injure his spinal cord. I stayed around afterwards to talk to the police about what I saw.

Ensure the patient's safety, try to stop uncontrolled bleeding by applying pressure, make sure they don't move their head, and keep them calm. If they are not breathing or lose a pulse, do CPR. EMS generally respond fairly quickly.