Nursing Assessment of the Trauma Patient

Erik J. Usher, RN, BS, CEN, CPEN, EMT-P, CFRN, has more than 27 years of widespread clinical trauma experience, most recently as a rotor-wing flight nurse/paramedic for Bayflite Aeromedical Program out of St. Petersburg, Florida. Erik began his trauma career in 1988 in Bristol, Connecticut, working for a busy hospital-based EMS agency. While continuing to work EMS, Erik obtained a diploma in nursing at St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing, where he then started his trauma nursing career in the emergency department of one of the state’s largest and busiest Level I trauma centers. In 1998, Erik began working for University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, the busiest Level I trauma center based on ISS Severity at the time in the United States. In concert with working in the freestanding Resuscitation Department, Erik began his flight nursing career for Mercy Air in 1998, where he helped establish the Las Vegas medevac flight program. Erik became the manager of the Las Vegas base while also maintaining his skills in the trauma center as a nurse and in EMS as a street paramedic. Erik has been an active speaker at national conventions as well as a lead instructor for advanced procedural cadaver laboratories throughout the country. Erik maintains active credentials as an instructor for the Emergency Nurses Association Trauma Nursing Core Course as well as with the American Heart Association as a Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support instructor. Erik maintains board certifications as a Certified Emergency Nurse, Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse, and Certified Flight Registered Nurse. He holds a bachelor’s degree in health administration and has been published in several textbooks and medical journals.