Family-centered care for the neurotrauma patient

Nursing management of the family of the neurotrauma patient is a challenging experience. Whether the family is first encountered during their initial days of crisis or following discharge to the home, they require individualized, thoughtful nursing care. Indeed, according to Bond, the pattern of stresses the family encounters changes with time, with one of the most significant points being in the first days after discharge from the hospital when they realize and accept the full extent of the victim's deficits. It is to this end that nursing intervention throughout hospitalization is geared, and it is during this time that we cannot forget that nursing management may still be required. In the case of neurotrauma, the patient and family are not "cured" when they leave the hospital, for many their problems are just beginning. Let us develop mechanisms through which continued professional support can be made available to the families of neurologically impaired patients both during and following hospitalization.