Inside the Emergency Room with Karen Bowden

Karens insights:

What drew you to the medical profession?

I initially worked in Teacher Recruitment. I loved the pace, the travel back and forwards to London and the overall buzz around that type of work. However, I became unwell and had to undergo an unexpected, significant Cardiothoracic surgery. The nursing team were fantastic and I would never have got through any of it without their support, care and kindness; before, during and after. During my recovery I reassessed my life goals, came to the conclusion the big bucks and bonuses didn’t matter as much and all I wanted was to be able to be in a position where I could make a difference in that way.

What particularly led you towards the Major Trauma nursing/coordinator role?

During my training it became very clear, very quickly that I wanted to work in ED. I loved every placement. In ED I always had a particular interest in trauma and had worked for the National Audit team (STAG) alongside my nursing role in ED as well as spent some of my free time with the Prehospital teams. So when the MT Coordinator job became available I truly believed it was made for me. I got to continue to work in Resus with sick patients and incorporate my injury/KPI/pattern recognition skills and knowledge. But I got to focus on them, and the fact there were 130 other patients in the ED was no longer my responsibility.

The best thing about your job is?

I get to see the patients at their worst. Then I get to see their injuries evolve and then I get to watch them get stronger and discharge home. It’s definitely the best part of my role, and the part that as an ED nurse I never got to witness.

What keeps you going?

My team, we keep each other going on the difficult days. Humour is also my coping mechanism, it makes me “resilient” to the tragic, horrific things I see and do everyday.

What’s it like in your ED right now?

The medical and nursing teams appear to be working to their limits. We had 29 trauma calls in 48hrs last weekend alone.*

What types of trauma do you see through the doors?

We see lots of knife assaults, RTCs, large animal injuries like cows and horses, work related injuries, lots of silver traumas which are usually fall from standing heights. Sadly we also see a number of suicide attempts particularly jumps from height.

What’s the one thing you know will make a difference in your job?

Our attention to detail, and meticulous planning and coordination of specialities is what makes the difference to the care of our major trauma patients.

What was your initial reaction to The Trauma App?

Initially I was unsure about changing my practice, I was worried I would miss things/wouldn’t find things. Actually after using the app a couple of times I found the opposite, I could easily navigate through and it actually prompted me in the midst of the madness to remember things.

What is it like using the Trauma App to scribe a case?

You get into your own way of scribing, although the App does help guide you through. You get used to what needs documented immediately and what you can add in when things are a bit calmer.

What feature of the App do you particularly like?

I enjoy seeing the final report. When all the data is visible in a readable format, and the journey of the patient and the timeline is clear.

Why is digital innovation so important for healthcare today?

It’s the way of the future. If we want to provide the best to our patients in the shortest possible time, we need to look out of the box and to do that we need the technology, we need the research and data and most importantly we need the thought processes.

*this interview was carried out during the Summer of 2024, so reflecting patient volumes at the time.