Trauma Room Nurse - Essay Example

? Trauma room nurse Job Nursing involves a wide range of jobs ranging from calmer jobs that entail office work to more demanding jobs. Some of the jobs require quick-thinking skills and the ability to evaluate incidences. One of the most significant certification that is crucial in saving lives is trauma nursing certifications. Trauma nurses have numerous critical jobs to accomplish. Trauma nursing certification helps the nurses to accomplish these tasks with ease. The first and most significant stage of a trauma nurse’s job is to initiate life-saving measures for patients. Patients that have experienced life-threatening incidences such as critical accidents require immediate stabilization (Andreassi, 2006). The trauma room nurse certification helps the nurses to acquire essential skills, such as ways to stop excessive blood loss, and methods of stabilizing a critically affected patient. Trauma room nurses should also be able to prevent secondary infections. In a health facility, there is a high likelihood for patients with life-threatening issues to contract other illness. Patients with open injuries and those with weakened immune systems should be monitored closely to prevent farther infections (Andreassi, 2006). Education and certification Dealing with trauma is a technical issue which requires authenticated certification. One is required to train and acquire the professional skills required to accomplish all the responsibilities. One of the important qualifications of a trauma nurse room is the nursing certification. This certification entails a wide range of skills that are crucial for a trauma nurse room. The certifications range from two years to ten years depending on the skills that one intends to acquire. I am experienced in surgical nursing for more than ten years majorly in neurosurgical and burn intensive care unit. In the nursing department, I have come to realize that most health care institutions offer a reasonable rate of salary to the nurses (Andreassi, 2006). Although salaries may vary from one institution to another, the rate seems to have a minimum range of between $20 and $24. This applies to those nurses who belong to the same category depending on their grades and personal experience. Employment The health care department has the most chances of employment opportunities across the world (Briere & Scott, 2006). There are a number of health institutions that one can get a job. For instance, after graduating from a nursing school in the US one can seek employment in the government institutions or privately owned institutions. The government owned health institutions include St Paul Medical Centre which is located at Minnesota in the US and Westmead hospital (Andreassi, 2006). There are also open chances for one to get employment opportunities in a nongovernmental organization like AMREF, WHO, Red Cross and St Andrews ambulance among many others. These organizations assist patients in different ways. WHO as a non-governmental organization help in providing food to those people cannot meet their daily requirements as food (Andreassi, 2006). The Red Cross helps to provide humanitarian needs to people who are affected by natural calamities or other accidents. In this department, there are many possibilities for one to advance both academically and salary wise (Briere & Scott, 2006). The nursing certificate holders take the shortest time possible to complete their course. Because of the nature of the training, they are given the lowest salary followed by diploma holders and the degree holders in the same order (Follette & Ruzek, 2006). This indicates that professional experiences increase in the same line with the salary earned. As one progress to gain higher knowledge, the salary also increases. The nursing schools have the capacity to train and offer advancement opportunities to all practitioners to enable them deal with patients efficiently. There are also workshops that help educate the nurses on the best scientific nursing practices. For instance, AMREF provides training facilities in nursing (Briere & Scott, 2006). Most of the training takes two weeks with extensive sessions. The payment for the services is five hundred Euros per week for course materials only. It does not include insurance, accommodation and other personal requirement. On successful completion, one gets a certificate from the University of Heidelberg. Professional activities Health care is the widest discipline among all the disciplines. It deals with all issues related to patients. The nurses are expected to provide the necessary care to the patient to recover from whatever trauma it is (Olshansky, 2011). The nurse determines the environment in which the patient recovers easily. The nurse also explains and provides relevant information to the patient in order to encourage positive perception of the patient’s status. Apart from patients health there is also critical information that has to be collected recorded and kept safely. This vital activity is carried out in the health care systems. For instance, the number of traumatized people can be found from the records that are well kept in the health institutions. To identify the rate of HIV and AIDS in the country, the health providers are the ones who provide the accurate records of the patients (Briere & Scott, 2006). The nurses are required to organize and come up with a national body that coordinates all the health services in the state. In this discipline, one has to train so as to attend effectively to the patient’s needs. The training is made in a way that is spiral in nature. One gets into the system and starts to learn from what he or she knows. Then the syllabus takes the individual learner into a deeper understanding of the content. It is essential that one learns skills in a stepwise manner. For instance, a prospect student nurse can get admission from a nursing school (Andreassi, 2006). This will give him a chance to get an introduction to the nursing procedures. It all starts with a certificate or a diploma in nursing. He program is set in a way that one learns interrelated activities in certificate, diploma, higher diploma and degree. The units continue in that sequence although at different depth. The transition from one grade to another is a personal issue since it depends on the interest and economic status of a person. The only mandatory in this field is to attend refresher courses and workshops regularly (Cloitre, Cohen & Koenon, 2006). They allow nurses to socialize while exchanging ideas on how to better the nursing discipline. Conclusion Before I joined this discipline, I had a negative attitude towards nursing in general. I could sympathize with the nurses dealing with various issues in the profession (Curtis, 2007). It is difficult to predict the needs of the numerous patients a nurse is required to handle. In the course of my duties, I have come to conclude that nursing is not entirely a profession but a call. Sometimes I am forced to attend to trauma victims as late as at midnight. This requires determination and courage otherwise one can easily give up. I like nursing and more so, when handling the trauma patients. It has given me the opportunity to learn pertinent issues in life. Some of the skills that I have acquired include problem-solving skills, handling emergencies and secondary treatment of patients. I choose trauma nursing as my career because it gives me the comfort and job satisfaction that I prefer. I also love the rush of adrenaline I get when working emergency cases for the 13 yrs of being an operating room technician (Andreassi, 2006). I handle myself extremely well in stressful situations and can see myself as an asset in the world of trauma. References Andreassi K. (2006). Psychophysiology: human behavior & physiological response New York: LongHorn Publishers Briere, D. & Scott, G. (2006). Principles of Trauma Therapy and Treatment: a guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. New Haven: New Haven University Press Cloitre, J. Cohen, H. & Koenon, S. (2006). Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse: psychotherapy for the interrupted life. Chicago: Lewis Publishers, Curtis, K. (2007). Trauma Nurse Case Management. The principles of trauma case management. Retrieved from http://www.trauma.org/index.php/main/article/532/ Follette, R. & Ruzek (Eds.) (2006). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies for Trauma. Philadelphia: Oxford World's Classics reprint, Olshansky, E. (2011). Community/Public Health Nursing: One Way Nursing Can Make a Difference. Journal of professional nursing. 2011. Vol. 27, No. 5. PP265-266 Read More