Emergency Resuscitation in Trauma Patients: A Literature Analysis

Abstract

This study was conducted with the objective of analyzing the components, outcomes, roles and competency of nurses and teams as well as the roles and competency of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in emergency trauma teams by use of a literature analysis obtained by search and review of evidence-based practice in electronic databases and the Mahidol University Library as standard reference sources by which a total of 41 pieces of evidence-based practice including 19 samples of research, 21 non-research essays and 1 systematic review were obtained for analysis.

The literature review and analysis yielded the following findings: 1) the success in rescuing emergency trauma patients consists of knowledgeable personnel, quick and appropriate decision-making, combination of skills and expertise, multi-disciplinary knowledge, guidelines for rescuing trauma patients, continually developed strategies, teamwork and training or drills for actual situations; 2) the criteria used for the evaluation of the major result of the rescue was the patients’ survival rate; 3) trauma team leaders must possess leadership skills, clinical performance, timely decision-making ability, multi-task competency and resistance to pressure for the rescue process to be successful. Furthermore, team members must understand their roles in the team while possessing knowledge, experience, skills and work responsibility. Professional nurse practitioners must fulfill the roles of managing and providing rescue to emergency trauma patients. As for advanced nurse practitioners, not only must they maintain the same roles and competencies as professional nurses, but they must also have clinical expertise and good communication skills as accepted trainers. Everyone on the team must pass training on rescuing emergency trauma patients, and this training must be repeated every 1-2 years.

The findings of this literature analysis can be used in the proposal of policies to improve the competency of emergency trauma team leaders and staff and as guidelines for developing training courses for saving the lives of trauma patients for nurses assigned to emergency units because training will lead to success in saving the lives of these patients.