Understanding the Nurses' Role in Pre-Hospital Care for Patients with Limb Fractures: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Trauma can be understood as a disease that involves the exchange of energy between the environment and the body, resulting in injuries of varying extent and intensity, which affect different systems and organs. Its occurrence requires that victims in clinical or traumatic situations receive emergency care in the extra-hospital environment. In assessing the victim to identify a possible hemorrhage or fracture, the professional requires prior knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. Thus, this study aims to identify, in the literary bases, the main actions and care adopted by nurses for clients who are victims of trauma with limb fractures. This is an integrative descriptive literary review, in which 10 articles published in the last 5 years were selected, found in BVS, LILACS and GOOGLE SHOLAR, using the keywords: Pre-hospital care; Traffic accident; Trauma; First Aid Nurse and Nursing Care. For the results and discussions, ten publications that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. It showed that the implementation of protocols in care practices by the nursing team directs the steps in the primary assessment, allowing the pre-hospital care provider to use critical thinking to achieve the best care for each patient. Thus, it is understood by this work approached, that having the knowledge of the main techniques addressed in the health protocols, minimizes the risks of trauma victims, and that the teams can promote safe care to patients, whether they are pre-hospital or not.