Nursing and Chaplain Partnership for Pain Management: A Survey of Nurses.

Purpose: Pain is a universal experience for hospitalized patients, with physical, psychological, spiritual, and cognitive implications. As hospitals seek to identify nonpharmaceutical options for managing acute pain, the role of chaplains has been overlooked. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of nurses regarding chaplain involvement in pain management.

Traumatic Brain Injury, Psychological Trauma Exposure, and Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in a Clinical Population.

Background: Approximately 90% of adults endorse psychological trauma exposure. However, barriers to assessment of psychological trauma and sequelae include limited access to care, lack of standardized assessments in nonpsychiatric settings, and comorbid diagnoses, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), that may mimic psychiatric syndromes.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence rates of psychological trauma exposure and TBI to understand the relationship of these experiences with current psychiatric symptoms.

Getting patients to the right level of trauma center after motorcycle crashes in a rural trauma system.

Purpose: After a motorcycle crash (MCC), emergency medical services (EMS) responders must balance trauma center proximity with clinical needs of patients, which is especially challenging in rural states. The study purpose was to determine if MCC patients treated at lower-level trauma centers (LLTC) experienced higher mortality when compared to patients transported directly to the highest level of trauma care available in the state at Level II trauma centers.

Procedures: A retrospective study was conducted on MCC patients transported by EMS to Montana hospitals and met registry inclusion criteria in 2020-2021.

Access to Trauma Care in a Rural State: A Descriptive Geographic and Demographic Analysis.

Background: Montana is a rural state with limited access to higher-level trauma care; it also has higher injury fatality rates compared with the rest of the country.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to utilize Geographic Information System methodology to assess proximity to trauma care and identify the demographic characteristics of regions without trauma access.

Methods: Maptitude® Geographic Information System software (Caliper Corporation, Newton, MA) was used to identify regions in Montana within 60 min of trauma care; this included access to a Level II or Level III trauma center with general surgery capabilities and access to any level of trauma care.