Quality of Life Experienced by Severely Injured Trauma Survivors
- 1 February 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AACN Publishing in AACN Advanced Critical Care
- Vol. 14 (1), 54-63
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00044067-200302000-00007
Abstract
Advances in technology and the expansion of the emergency medical system have made emergency care available to large numbers of people experiencing trauma. Assessing the quality of life experienced by trauma survivors may assist in the development of interventions to optimize the outcomes in this patient population. The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of life experienced by severely injured trauma survivors, and to determine if a relation exists between the severity of the injury and the quality of life, the impact on the family of survivors, and the community resources needed by the survivors. Severely injured survivors of trauma in this study were defined as patients with a severity of injury severity score (ISS) of 25 or more and a trauma injury score (TRISS) of 0.90 or less. In this descriptive study, telephone interviews were conducted to administer the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), an analog scale, and a demographic data form. All the survivors were interviewed at least 6 months after discharge from the hospital. The data collected on 64 survivors showed that they experienced a significantly poorer quality of life after the trauma incidents, as indicated by both the SIP scores and the analog scores. Although most of the SIP’s 12 behavior categories indicated severe disruption, the behavior categories of work, recreation and pastimes, home management, and sleep and rest were the most negatively affected. Patients and families should be prepared for the physical, emotional, and financial disruptions that occur after severe traumatic injury. Support services, including community resources, are needed to optimize outcomes after discharge.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Outcome after Major TraumaJournal Of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care, 1999
- Outcome after Major TraumaJournal Of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care, 1998
- The Effect of Employment on Quality of Life and Community Integration after Traumatic Brain InjuryJournal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 1998
- Long-Term Outcomes after Lower Extremity TraumaJournal Of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care, 1996
- The Sickness Impact Profile as a Tool to Evaluate Functional Outcome in Trauma PatientsJournal Of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care, 1995
- A profile of outcome: 2 years after traumatic brain injuryBrain Injury, 1995
- Quality of life: a concept analysisJournal of Advanced Nursing, 1993
- Must We Always Use CPR?New England Journal of Medicine, 1987
- The Sickness Impact Profile: Development and Final Revision of a Health Status MeasureMedical Care, 1981
- The Sickness Impact Profile: Conceptual Formulation and Methodology for the Development of a Health Status MeasureInternational Journal of Health Services, 1976