Nursing Outcome During Inter-Facility Transfer of Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury for Continued Treatment

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury patients are at risk of developing increased intracranial pressure.  Therefore, referrals for this group of patients have a high risk of worsening symptoms during the referral. This research was descriptive research.  The objective of this study was to study the nursing outcomes of traumatic brain injury patients during referral. The samples consisted of two groups: The first group was the medical records and symptoms of traumatic brain injury patients during referrals who received treatment at secondary care hospital and referral for treatment at a tertiary care hospital, amounting to 102 files, and the second group included 39 nurses who served in referrals. The instrument in this research was a nursing practice guideline for referral brain injury patients. Instruments for data collection consisted of two parts the first part included, 1) patient data collection form and data integrity check form for care of traumatic brain injury patients during referral on ambulance.  In the second part, the nurse group information questionnaire consisted of a general information questionnaire for the nurses who served in referrals and the satisfaction questionnaire on the use of nursing practices in traumatic brain injury patients during referral. Data were analyzed using percentage and mean statistics. The results showed two parts. Firstly, the safety outcomes of traumatic brain injury patients during hospital referral showed that 1.96 percent of traumatic brain injury patients had shock with hypotension. 0.98 percent of the subjects had a change or decrease in their level of consciousness (Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)), while 97.10 percent did not experience any adverse event during referral. Secondly, the systematic outcome revealed that there was 75.50 percent complete records of traumatic brain injury patients and nursing activities during referral, and the mean scores of satisfactions with the use of the nursing care guidelines during referral were at a high level. (= 4.31, S.D. = 0.63). Therefore, nursing care for traumatic brain injury during referral is important.  It can be applied as a guideline for care and prevention of complications to provide safer referral services for traumatic brain injury patients.