A nurse assigned to the Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune in North Carolina is being recognized for her research and process improvement efforts in pediatric trauma care.
Navy Cmdr. Emily Latimer, an emergency clinical nurse specialist, was recently awarded the Defense Health Agency Nursing Award for Evidence-Based Practice. Latimer spearheaded a project to examine methods for administering blood specifically to pediatric trauma patients.
According to Latimer, giving blood to a pediatric patient requires a different volume, specific needles or a smaller IV — meaning that blood systems used for adult patients don't always transition well for children. Latimer said she was inspired to pursue this project by past cases of critically ill children.
"In a military treatment facility, a huge portion of our patients are pediatrics. For example, at our emergency department here, 25% of our patients are pediatrics. Being able to provide the care and, hopefully, be a source of trust and stability for their families – that's taking care of our military community," she said.
Latimer and her team procured grant funding to purchase a manual blood infusion system for pediatric trauma patients, and nurses and paramedics tested the system for several weeks. Findings showed that a system designed to administer blood to pediatric patients was easier and faster for users and should be a component that trauma centers consider obtaining to ensure pediatric readiness capabilities.
"Our job is to take care of vulnerable patients, and if we're finding ways to make improvements, we are doing our job to make things better for our patients," Latimer said. "Ultimately, if we are getting recognized for this work, that means the work we are doing is meaningful. It gives us an opportunity and a venue to share what we learned, so that maybe other people can implement similar solutions."
Latimer noted that research on pediatric care is vital to the readiness component of military medicine.
"As much as our deployment training is focused on preparing to receive adult patients, in many deployed settings, we do take care of sick kids. Having the skills, the comfort and the experience with sick children in a military treatment facility prepares our healthcare workers for deployment medicine," she said.
Latimer was also awarded the Pediatric Readiness Improvement Award through the Emergency Nurses Association, recognizing her work on the blood project and other improvements for critically ill pediatric patients, such as medication and safety audits.
However, Latimer does not take credit for the accolades; instead, she proudly attributes the success to her research team.
"So much of this was a group effort," she said. "I feel really lucky that I was able to work with people that have such expertise and care and were willing to take time out of their day-to-day tasks to spend time dedicated to these projects."
Latimer, a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, has served 16 years in the Navy and will soon embark on her next journey as the department head for corpsman trauma training at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Cleveland.