The addition of a dedicated TCU and advanced practice nurses improved the quality and reduced the cost of care, resulting in increased value at an adult Level I trauma center.

Orthopedic trauma is frequently encountered by critical care nurses as trauma team members providing care to the severely injured. Through actual case examples, the role of the critical care nurse and orthopedic trauma management is reviewed. Focus is on unstable pelvic fractures, extremity fractures, compartment syndrome, rhabdomyolysis, mangled extremities, gunshot-wound fractures, and damage-control orthopedics.

No abstract