Effectiveness of the Nursing Clinical Guideline for Monitoring Life-threatening Emergencies in Trauma Patients, Emergency Department, Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a new nursing clinical guideline for monitoring life-threatening emergencies in trauma patients in Emergency Department, Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital. The purposive sampling categorized the patients into two groups divided into 60 patients who had severe injury and were identified as level 1 and level 2, and 17 register nurses who worked at the emergency unit.  The research employed five instruments: 1) a nursing clinical guideline for monitoring life-threatening emergencies in trauma patients, 2) a questionnaire for collecting data about patients’ personal and injury information, the results of which were analyzed using descriptive statistics, 3) the record of monitoring classes of hemorrhagic shock analyzed using Chi-square, and 4) the record of service periods at the emergency room analyzed by using independent T-test , and 5) a survey of satisfaction towards the new nursing clinical guideline analyzed by using Pair T-test. Data were collected between 1^st September 2022 and 28^th February 2023.

The research developed a new nursing clinical guideline which included: 1) trauma alert criteria, 2) Method of providing treatments for specific individuals and diseases, and 3) a ready-to-use medical record. The results presented that the average time spent for receiving care services at the emergency room was 2.83 minute lower than the previous nursing clinical guideline (28.46 minutes). The period for consulting with specialized physicians reduced from 21.60 to 6.4 minutes. In terms of nurses’ satisfaction, it was found that the mean score increased from2.27 (P<0.5) to 4.30 (P<0.5) after implementing the new nursing clinical guideline.

To improve the quality of care and save patients’ life, the result suggested that the new nursing clinical guideline was effective and could be used in emergency units.