Nursing Care for C5 Spinal Cord Injury

A C5 spinal cord injury can be a very serious condition that requires around-the-clock care for the patient. As a nurse, it's your job not only to make sure the patient is receiving any treatments, medications, or tests the doctor orders; it's also your job to see that the patient is comfortable, that he is taken care of mentally and emotionally as well. The complexity of a spinal cord injury requires you to pay close attention to every detail the patient tells you about or that you observe, so that you can report any problems or complications to the doctor in charge.

If you work in the emergency department of the hospital, you will, at some point, have a patient come in with a spinal cord injury. In order for the patient's prognosis to be the best that it can be, you must work very closely with the doctors and other nurses to make sure that several things don't happen. For instance, the patient's head and neck need to be stabilized to ensure that he doesn't receive even more injury; it may be necessary for you to place the patient into traction. He may need help breathing also, depending on the severity of his injury. Keep him as still as possible, administering sedatives, if ordered, to allow for less movement or irritation during tests and treatments; you must also monitor his oxygen intake as well. Other things the doctor may order are the placement of a catheter, so as to allow the patient to be rid of wastes and not have it sitting in his bladder. Vital signs will also need to be monitored very closely, as the patient could develop cardiovascular signs of distress or blood clots. The doctor may order a medication called Medrol to be given to the patient, and this needs to be done right away to possibly minimize damage done to the spinal cord. Of course, keeping the charts carefully updated is always a must, as this keeps the doctors and other nurses who come in at different shifts updated and aware of any history or potential complications.

Rehab


As the patient improves, he may be transferred to a rehabilitation facility to recover and learn how to live with his injury. As a nurse in the rehab center, you may have several jobs. Most rehab involves therapists and physical therapists, but you will be monitoring the patient's health overall, and you may assist with certain things. You will help the patient in his recovery process by encouraging him to go to every session with the physical therapist, as this will speed his recovery. While there, he will be working not only with movement and strength training, but he will be learning how to live with his injury, such as using a wheelchair. He'll be relearning even the simplest tasks because he will have to do them in a different way now. You will also need to teach the patient about certain physical aspects of his injury and things that he might expect when he gets home. He may need to be taught how to use a catheter; he may need teaching on UTI's and taking care of his skin, as well as making sure his home is ready for him when he gets there.