Wietske Blom-Ham

Hogeschool Utrecht

Background: Falls in people 65 years and older evaluated in the emergency department are increasing. Of all unintentional injury-related deaths among older people, 55% are due to falls. The impact of falls, especially concerning Dutch older people with the highest proportion of living independently worldwide, is unclear. Objective: To identify t...

Purpose Resuscitation quality and pace depend on effective team coordination, which can be facilitated by adequate leadership. Our primary aim was to assess the influence of trauma team leader experience on resuscitation pace. Second, we investigated the influence of injury severity on resuscitation pace. Methods The trauma team leaders were ident...

PurposeNon-technical skills have gained attention, since enhancement of these skills is presumed to improve the process of trauma resuscitation. However, the reliability of assessing non-technical skills is underexposed, especially when using video analysis. Therefore, our primary aim was to assess the reliability of the Trauma Non-Technical Skills...

Introduction: Retrospective studies suggest that a rapid initiation of treatment results in a better prognosis for patients in the emergency department. There could be a difference between the actual medication administration time and the documented time in the electronic health record. In this study, the difference between the observed medication...

Background Collar-related pressure ulcers (CRPU) are a problem in trauma patients with a suspicion of cervical cord injury patients. Indentation marks (IM), skin temperature (Tsk) and comfort could play a role in the development of CRPU. Two comparable cervical collars are the Stifneck® and Philadelphia®. However, the differences between them remai...

Purpose In this systematic literature review, the effects of the application of a checklist during in hospital resuscitation of trauma patients on adherence to the ATLS guidelines, trauma team performance, and patient-related outcomes were integrated. Methods A systematic review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic...

Background Emergency department utilization has increased tremendously over the past years, which is accompanied by an increased necessity for emergency medicine research to support clinical practice. Important sources of evidence are systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs), but these can only be informative provided their quality is suffi...

Objectives To explore the influence of risk factors present at Emergency Department admission on pressure ulcer development in trauma patients with suspected spinal injury, admitted to the hospital for evaluation and treatment of acute traumatic injuries. Design Prospective cohort study setting level one trauma center in the Netherlands particip...

Objectives: To describe the occurrence and severity of pressure ulcers, indentation marks and pain from the extrication collar combined with headblocks. Furthermore, the influence of time, injury severity and patient characteristics on the development of pressure ulcers, indentation marks and pain was explored. Design: Observational. Study sett...

Of all patients in a hospital environment, trauma patients may be particularly at risk for developing (device-related) pressure ulcers (PUs), because of their traumatic injuries, immobility, and exposure to immobilizing and medical devices. Studies on device-related PUs are scarce. With this study, the incidence and characteristics of PUs and the p...

Of all patients in a hospital environment, trauma patients may be particularly at risk for developing (device-related) pressure ulcers (PUs), because of their traumatic injuries, immobility, and exposure to immobilizing and medical devices. Studies on device-related PUs are scarce. With this study, the incidence and characteristics of PUs and the p...

The latest version of the Dutch National Protocol Ambulance Care (Landelijk Protocol Ambulancezorg LPA8), introduced on 1 January 2015, contains too few guarantees of the safety of trauma patients in whom spinal immobilisation has to be performed. A number of strict indications have been removed and too much freedom is also permitted with respect t...

Introduction: Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a serious health complication that develop as a result of pressure alone or pressure in combination with shearing forces. Although PUs are typically associated with older adults and chronic illness, acutely injured trauma patients may have a particular risk for the development of PUs. To prevent PU developme...

The application of a cervical collar (C-collar) in trauma patients can be life-saving. Previous studies, however, describe development of pressure ulcers related to C-collars. To retrospectively compare collar-related pressure ulcers (CRPUs) occurring in trauma patients admitted to the intensive care unit wearing a C-collar before and after impleme...

To protect the (possibly) injured spine, trauma patients are immobilized on backboard or vacuum mattress, with a cervical collar, lateral headblocks, and straps. Several studies identified pressure ulcer (PU) development from these devices. The aim of this literature study was to gain insight into the occurrence and development of PUs, the risk fac...

Op de SEH van het UMC Utrecht is een klinisch pad ontwikkeld om therapeutische hypothermie bij patiënten na een out-of-hospital cardiac arrest te implementeren en om het beter aan te laten sluiten op de behandeling op de Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

In elk nummer van Critical Care vindt u een casus die de ver-schillende fases van een behandeling laat zien. Dit keer de op-vang van een 3-jarig jongetje dat te water is geraakt.

In elk nummer van Critical Care vindt u een casus die de verschillende fases van een behandeling laat zien. Dit keer aandacht voor een motorrijder met een neurotrauma. In de prehospitale zorg gelden specifieke aandachtspunten die we hier beschrijven en toelichten.