The Impact of a Trauma Board in a small rural Hospital and Multiple Purpose Health Service Emergency Department

Kylie Ludwick1

1Queensland Health, Winton, Australia

Problem: Perception of team confidence and function in a small rural facility emergency department in response to unprecedented increase in critically unwell patients requiring advanced level intervention in particular Rapid Sequence Intubation (RSI)

Design: Post debrief feedback, implement strategies to resolve issues identified

Setting: Small rural Hospital and Multiple Purpose Health Service (MPHS), with high prevalence of agency nursing staff, junior substantive nursing pool and wide range of clinical experience that were not necessarily Emergency Department orientated

Key Measures for Improvement: Ease of use, team confidence, team function, and improved documentation from using the Trauma Board

Strategies for Change: Implement a custom designed Trauma Board to facilitate communication, documentation and team functionality during resuscitation

Effects of Change: Improved team communication, confidence and functionality during emergency presentations when utilising the Trauma Board.

Lesson Learnt: Staff validated perception of team performance by measuring human factors such as communication and team function, not by patient outcome

Key words: team function, team confidence, communication, documentation tool

 


 

 

Biography 

Nurse Practitioner, Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) InstructorBip