The Effect of a Nurse Team Leader on Communication and Leadership in Major Trauma Resuscitations

Background: Effective assessment and resuscitation of trauma patients requires an organised, multidisciplinary team. Literature evaluating leadership roles of nurses in trauma resuscitation and their effect on team performance is scarce.

Aim: To assess the effect of allocating the most senior nurse as team leader of trauma patient assessment and resuscitation on communication, documentation and perceptions of leadership within an Australian emergency department.

Methods: The study design was a pre-post-test survey of emergency nursing staff (working at resuscitation room level) perceptions of leadership, communication, and documentation before and after the implementation of a nurse leader role. Patient records were audited focussing on initial resuscitation assessment, treatment, and nursing clinical entry. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed.

Results: Communication trended towards improvement. All (100%) respondents post-test stated they had a good to excellent understanding of their role, compared to 93.2% pre-study. A decrease (58.1-12.5%) in 'intimidating personality' as a negative aspect of communication. Nursing leadership had a 6.7% increase in the proportion of those who reported nursing leadership to be good to excellent. Accuracy of clinical documentation improved (P = 0.025).

Conclusion: Trauma nurse team leaders improve some aspects of communication and leadership. Development of trauma nurse leaders should be encouraged within trauma team training programmes.