Adolescent Experience with Trauma and External Fixation

Univ Of Massachusetts Med Sch Worcester, Worcester MA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over 13 million adolescents sustain traumatic injuries yearly, many resulting in functional disability, disfigurement, psychosocial problems and fractures. These fractures are increasingly being treated with orthopedic external fixation devices (EFDs), which have external metal frames and skeletal pins that penetrate the skin (pin site) to anchor in the bone, thus stabilizing fractures. Although EFDs yield superior outcomes for fractures, pin-site infections are a serious problem, particularly in adolescents who may also experience detrimental psychosocial effects from EFD treatment. Pin-care self-management, crucial to preventing infection, has not been studied in adolescents, nor has the impact of EFD treatment on adolescents who sustain traumatic injuries. In the proposed longitudinal qualitative descriptive study, a purposive sample of adolescents, 12-20 years old, will be interviewed 3 times after EFDs are applied for traumatic injury. The specific aims are to describe, in the adolescents' words, 1) circumstances leading to the traumatic event, 2) day-to-day experiences following the injury, 3) day-to-day experiences with the EFD, and 4) the adolescent role in pin-care self-management while recovering from trauma. The proposed study will lay the groundwork for future studies that may improve preventive and post-trauma care and recovery by focusing on understanding experiences of adolescents who have sustained major trauma and who are currently being treated with EFDs.