Guest guest Posted March 31, 2009 Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 I have a question. Do any of you think that EMS, as a whole, backboard and c-spine too many patients? I often find that we are able to assess people with resp issues, cardiac issues, strokes, ect. However when faced with someone who fell down from the standing position with no neck, back, or neuro deficits we insist on backboarding them. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't backboard people. If they have severe neck pain, point tenderness, neuro deficits, or other obvious signs of signs of a neck injury then we should backboard them. If they have significant mechanism (i.e. ejected out of car, fall >15', ect) then we should backboard them. But say they were rear ended at <15 mph, with NO damage or very little damage to their vehicle, or the little old people who tend to land on their hips and break them - we insist on straping them to a hard board which causes them MORE discomfort and PAIN then they initialy had... are we really doing them any good? Are there any studies out there to prove or disprove that what we do helps or harms? What kind of injuries are we causing ourselves from lifting and moving people onto backboards when they " don't " need them? I'm not out to stop immobilizing people. It has its place just like everything else we do, but I do wonder sometimes if we are really doing them any good. Wouldn't a c-collar be sufficient for thoose people? Just wondering what the rest of you all think about that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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