Advancing Trauma Care

Board certification is a high distinction that independently validates specialty knowledge and expertise. In attaining and maintaining board certification in trauma nursing, TCRN-certified nurses demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence and an exceptional level of knowledge, experience and clinical judgment across the entire trauma care continuum from prehospital care through rehabilitation and including injury prevention.

Trauma is a major public health issue with universal impact. In the U.S. alone, the annual economic cost of trauma is $4.2 trillion (including healthcare and productivity loss for those suffering both fatal and nonfatal injuries). Among the other U.S. statistics compiled by the Center for National Trauma Research¹:

• Trauma is the leading cause of death of children in the United States
• Injury is the number one cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 46.
• Each year trauma accounts for 41 million emergency department visits and 2 million hospital admissions.
• For ages 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma.
• Trauma is a major cause of military service member injuries and deaths.
• The effect of trauma on productive life years lost exceeds that of any other disease.

Nurses are the largest component of the trauma care workforce. According to the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN), trauma nurses “routinely care for patients who demonstrate acute and complicated conditions that require a high level of skill and competence to treat,”² and trauma care requires “significant expertise across the entire continuum to make an impact in outcome and prevention.”³ Further, STN says skilled caregivers can have “a tremendous positive effect on the outcome after injury as well as the prevention of injuries,” which is why STN “believes strongly in the attainment of the TCRN certification and encourages all trauma nurses in all settings to obtain their certification upon meeting the recommended eligibility requirements.”³

The hands-on care trauma nurses provide — and the need to critically think, assess for early signs of complications, and intervene quickly, often for unstable patients when every second counts — warrants their having as much knowledge and expertise as possible. It is worth noting that beyond these critical point-of-injury capacities, trauma nurses are also the conductors of trauma care, orchestrating interprofessional teams to rehabilitate each patient back to their full potential. They also are the primary educators aiming to prevent injuries in the first place.

A growing body of research, including BCEN’s major large-scale value of certification study,⁴ demonstrates that board-certified nurses are more confident, are better contributors and communicators, and have a deeper impact on patient care, their teams and their organizations.

Therefore, it is fair to say that board certification in trauma nursing is vital to trauma care, and TCRNs play a crucial role in advancing trauma care. Moreover, leaders who want to create and grow exemplary nurses need to know that the optimal professional development path runs through board certification.