Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association
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J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc · Sep 2012
ReviewPosttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury in current military populations: a critical analysis.
The use of unconventional weaponry combined with decreased mortality rates and servicemembers being exposed to intense ground combat during multiple deployments has increased the risk of servicemembers living with the consequences of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and combat operational stress. ⋯ There is some evidence that comorbid PTSD and TBI result in greater reports of postconcussive symptomology than either condition alone. Limitations include lack of consistency of measurements, sampling biases, and lack of experimental design, and these warrant further exploration. Future research is needed to decrease variability in study findings and elucidate relationships between these disorders and their effects on persistent postconcussive symptomology.
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Concerns for patient safety have risen to the forefront of health care, including mental health care. Safe patient care depends, to a large extent, on high functioning teams, yet team training is lacking in basic professional training programs. To address the need for team training, one psychiatric hospital adopted the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety program (TeamSTEPPS). ⋯ TeamSTEPPS provided a practical approach for our hospital to systematically weave safety throughout the culture and improve team functioning and other attributes of highly effective teams.