Hello Trauma Nurses

alabamaparamedic · Aug 3, 2010

I think you might not be getting a reply because there really is no "Trauma" nurse. There are nurses that work in the ED, who rotate out as one of the designated nurses on the trauma team, and there are nurses who work in the OR with the trauma surgeon...at least that's now it goes at the hospital I spend the most time at. Being kind of curious, I've watched the trauma team in action many times, and it is a sight to behold. Everyone working together, everyone doing their jobs perfectly...one nurse will get IV access on one arm, the other will start to obtain access on the other arm, another will strip the patient as needed, the respiratory tech works on airway access/management as needed, one nurse takes report/notes, the x-ray techs will swoop in with their portable...it's all pretty cool. It usually lasts for less than a half hour, though...then the patient goes to CT if needed, and it usually gets a lot more mundane once the patient stabilizes.

I know nurses have various roles in the OR, working with the trauma surgeon, which is where the "trauma alert" patient winds up if they need surgical services. I assume things have a more urgent tone, but it's probably the same job they'd do if it weren't a "trauma patient", just maybe done a bit more quickly.

silentRN · Aug 3, 2010

Well, I'm a nurse in the trauma-surgical ICU. I really love it. Trauma is pretty predictable compared to our other counter-part ICUs like MICU and CCU which those patient's scare me when I float to those floors. All in all, I really do enjoy the trauma patients other than any other population. Prognosis for trauma patients are usually poor. The main teams that work with trauma patients would be trauma surgery and neuro surgery. Very good doctors! We get some of the head injury patients who will later become donor patients. Very rare does a patient ever come out the same after a head bleed. Lately, over the summer we've been getting a lot of GSWs, I guess it's GSW season. We also get transplants as well, which can be our sickest patients. I personally, don't like the transplant population. I love what I do. People seem to forget that "trauma"is a process. The ER with throw some lines in and keep the patient alive and either send them to OR or up directly to the unit or to the Morg, but the ICU is where you will see the ups and downs for better or worst. I've noticed with the ER that you have to have been a RN in the ER for a long time before you start working with the traumas, and that can kinda suck if you are looking to care for sicker patients other than the usual pill seeker, and nausea/vomiting/diarrhea.

Finallydidit · Aug 3, 2010

See if you can do some "ride alongs" with your local EMS squad. Very eye opening as to how fragile an hour can be.

msrob · Aug 5, 2010

Thanks you guys.

It does sound like something I would like. But I don't think I would like the build up to get to that point. I don't like the E.R. One time I got violently ill during the clinical week. I had a clinical instructor that was head of trauma and she let me make it up in the ER. It was ok, but I don't think I could deal with that population that long. So I don't know if it would be worth it to do that for years before getting a position in trauma.

I can go anywhere after graduation really. I'm young and don't have anything tying me down. So I'm hoping to find something I'll like and go for it, whereever that is.

I guess theres a lot of things that they don't tell you before you sign up for nursing school, like what the patient population is really like. lol.

Thanks everyone.