Enfermagem na Assistência ao Traumatismo Cranioencefálico em um Hospital Universitário.

The increase in urban violence directly reflects the complexity of care in emergencies, making it essential to fast services performed by skilled professionals. This study aimed to know the care provided by nurses to patients with traumatic brain injury in a hospital emergency department. The methodological procedures adopted in this research were exploratory and descriptive and were structured from a qualitative research developed in the Emergency Adult of a reference hospital in the central region of Rio Grande do iSul and had ten nurses as research participants . Data were collected between March and June 2010, through observation and semi-structured interview with closed and open questions. It was found that to some extent, assistance is adequate, however, there is evidence of a slight gap between theory and practice in the service provided. It is believed that the protocol implementation to facilitate care nursing actions, and it is still noteworthy that the continuous search for knowledge provides better performance and care implementation. The limitation of the study is due to not implementing a systematization using protocols in this service, which makes it more difficult a more standardized action by nurses participants. It is suggested that further studies be carried out in different services in order to improve the elements found in this research and identify relevant aspects to other services and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]