TNCC...whose been through it, what did you learn?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Sep 4, 2011

TNCC is about a systematic approach to assessing and managing trauma patients. I recommend being familiar with the components of the assessment before class. I thought it was a good course. Enjoy!

SpaceCoastRN · Sep 5, 2011

TNCC was an okay class. It focuses on trauma care along the lines of EMS courses such as BTLS/ITLS/PHTLS. With that it adds including family into the treatment and pain control. The course I took addressed all needed information for testing in the lecture. I would be familiar with the format of patient assessment beforehand though which I believe was chapter 3.

dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I · Sep 5, 2011

I think it should be mandatory for all ER nurses to take at least once. In my bursing program we had 30 minutes of first aid and most of it was wrong.

Roll up on a motorcycle accident, do you take the helmet off? Can you do it without worsening a c-spine injury?

Robublind · Sep 5, 2011

TNCC is about a systematic approach to assessing and managing trauma patients. I recommend being familiar with the components of the assessment before class. I thought it was a good course. Enjoy!

I agree, I just pass the class a few weeks ago. In the back of the book there are 6 trauma scenarios. Practice going through the components in the correct order, this is how your practical test will be administered. I had a friend play the procter. The doubled starred items need to be done in the correct order. The procter will read a scenario to you with a dummy on the table. You will be ask to go through the assess (hands on) and correct the problem(s) the patient is having. ie the airway is obstructed - suction, oral airway etc. the pt is bleeding, stop the bleeding, give fluid.

As for the multiple guess test, you will need to know the book. In other words, they can ask anything in book. They will send a practice or pretest when you get the book. This will give you a good idea of the type of questions they will ask. (no none of the pretest questions will be given on the test). The teachers will cover most of the stuff in class, pay attention to what is stressed but you have to read the book. There is no way they can cover everything that can be on the test. This isn't like ACLS were they spoon feed you the answers. Talking to the instructors, people who don't pass the class don't read the book and don't practice the assessments.

What did I learn other then trauma?, it is a good way to assess your patient and good way to look at your ABCs. Having a system to your assessment is a good way to not miss anything. It also stresses, I have done something to my patient (a treatment, pain med etc) and now I need to reassess. Did my treatment or pain med work? If not, why not, what should I try next. If you are task orientated nurse and trying not to be....

With all that, I enjoyed the class, but if you are faint of heart, some of the pictures are graphic.

Boston-RN, RN · Sep 5, 2011

I agree with the above posters. It's a great way to learn a systematic approach to assessing your trauma patients. It's good if you've already had a small taste of caring for trauma pts and its a great credential if you work ER.

Noimanurse · Sep 6, 2011

Thanks for the input. I've worked some in ER, but not anything regular or long-term, I am, however, transferring to the ER full-time in a month or so. Looking forward to new adventures and experiences!

SweetsMcnursey · Sep 10, 2011

I think it should be mandatory for all ER nurses to take at least once. In my bursing program we had 30 minutes of first aid and most of it was wrong.
Roll up on a motorcycle accident, do you take the helmet off? Can you do it without worsening a c-spine injury?

I agree and in my hospital, it is mandatory to keep the certification current. If you've been in the ER long enough, a lot of it is second nature, but there are many skills they teach you that, while you wont do them often, are important to know how to do properly as to not further injure your patient.

Example: A patient came into the ER after a motorcycle accident where the EMS left the helmet on and secured it to the backboard. Not sure why they didn't take it off on scene as they usually do, but I got to use a skill I never thought I'd use from TNCC almost three years after taking it.

Another class I like is ENPC. It includes some PALS info, but it focuses more on the pediatric body's response to various trauma and signs to look out for to try and prevent them from decompensating (is that a word?) because while a peds patient can compensate for blood loss, etc., for longer than an adult, it's very difficult to bring them back when they can no longer keep up.

mwboswell · Sep 11, 2011

I agree and in my hospital, it is mandatory to keep the certification current. If you've been in the ER long enough, a lot of it is second nature, but there are many skills they teach you that, while you wont do them often, are important to know how to do properly as to not further injure your patient.
Example: A patient came into the ER after a motorcycle accident where the EMS left the helmet on and secured it to the backboard. Not sure why they didn't take it off on scene as they usually do, but I got to use a skill I never thought I'd use from TNCC almost three years after taking it.
Another class I like is ENPC. It includes some PALS info, but it focuses more on the pediatric body's response to various trauma and signs to look out for to try and prevent them from decompensating (is that a word?) because while a peds patient can compensate for blood loss, etc., for longer than an adult, it's very difficult to bring them back when they can no longer keep up.

And along those lines of ENPC I look at it like this:

ENPC gives you a broad scope of pediatric illness, injury - for the things that happen/present more often.

PALS gives you a narrow focus on those more often life threatening peds problems, but limited just to those.

PALS and ENPC used to be combined into one course, but since AHA guidelines have modified away from the ENPC curricula years ago, they now have to be separate courses. However, I wish hospitals would budget for both!

-MB