Trauma Nurse

Trauma Nurses are registered nurses with the jobs responsibility of saving the life of a patient by providing specialized cares during emergencies. These nurses are specially trained to cope with the emergency medical situations, where a Trauma Nurse is unaware of the medical conditions, injury, disease and diagnosis result of the patient. They must have the ability and must be comfortable working in chaotic environments, stressful situations, and appalling trauma cases.  They are usually found working in the emergency rooms or on medical transport units.

Trauma Nurse Job Responsibilities

Their jobs require them to work in a very stressful situation, which makes them run constantly to handle the emergency situations and they also work odd hours because you never know when the emergency may arise. Constantly, their job needs them interacting, coordinating and assisting doctors, family members, and other nurses in handling the emergency cares. They are always on their feet, must be able to remain standing for long and lift heavy loads and pass through numerous other physical stress situations.  

Everyday a Trauma Nurse come across varied emergency situations such as fatally wounded gunshot patient, severely injured car accident patients, patient who is fallen from a rooftop and critically injured, burn cases, accidentally poisoned patient, cardiac arrest patients, machine mishap patients, almost drowned patients and other conditions. These emergency patients may be of any age or culture group and may speak a language foreign to a nurse. Therefore, handling and caring such trauma patients, a Trauma Nurse must possess quality of complete diligence, patience, assertive, resilience, stay calm in stressful situations, can work independently and possess quick reasoning and acting power.

A trauma nurse is not familiar with any medical history of the patients but they require attending these patients as soon as they are brought inside the emergency room. They work in a team; coordinate with the doctors and other nurses in charting out a care plan for treatments. Their main job duty is to stabilize the condition of the patients who are sometimes may be in shock and coma, laborious breathing or bleeding profusely.     

Trauma Nurse Work Places

A Trauma Nurse is commonly found working in emergency wards of the hospitals. The special caring acumen is also required in departments such as intensive care units, OPD, operating rooms, military units, cardiac centers, surgical departments, rehabilitation units. They are also found working in Critical care Units, where they attend the patients who might have to go for emergency cares and may be facing various crises.

While working in a transport company, these nurses try to stabilize the condition of a critical patient when they are shifted over to another medical facility through helicopter, medical emergency van or bus.

These nurses are also in high demand in a battlefield, where they need to attend critically injured patients from gun shot wounds or other crisis.

Trauma Nurse Education

In order to get trained in trauma nursing field, a RN can complete Emergency/Trauma Nursing Diploma course. The course curriculum can be completed in twelve months by attending 2 semesters. The core subjects that are instructed include areas such as HIV/AIDS care, Health care management, Trauma nursing practice and Pharmacology and other courses.