Trauma Inpatient Care Unit
Regions Hospital is among the first hospitals in the United States to develop a new inpatient Trauma Unit model. The Trauma Unit is a 16-bed general and intermediate-care inpatient area designed for critically injured patients, 90 percent of whom are admitted to the hospital through Regions Level I Trauma Center and Emergency Department following traumatic injuries resulting from motor vehicle accidents, falls, skiing or other sports-related injuries, stabbings or gunshot wounds.
The Trauma Unit will promote a close relationship between the patient, family, physician and the nurse. Registered nurses will be directly responsible for performing or coordinating most facets of a patients care, an important factor for ensuring patient satisfaction and promoting safety.
The inpatient trauma unit model of care ensures that:
- Each patient will be assigned a physician and nurse who have primary responsibility for planning and facilitating the patient's care
- Patients and family members will actively participate in the care planning for the day
- The nurse-to-nurse report at shift change will be done with the patient and / or family
This model of care aims to:
- Minimize the number of people the trauma patient and family interacts with during a hospital stay, allowing for a closer working relationship with the staff providing care
- Reduce the opportunity for errors due to communication by limiting the number of people involved in the care of the patient
- Standardize care through implementation of evidenced-based practice guidelines, resulting in safe, consistent and economic care delivery
- Increase patient satisfaction and sense of security with the care that they receive
- Develop an expert trauma nursing staff that results in increased job satisfaction and a decreased employment turnover rate
- Enhance collaboration between nurse and physician on performance improvement activities
- Improve communication with health care providers across the continuum of care
