Had a discussion with one of the nurses the other day and found out that the hosptial is looking at getting some adjustable c-collars. We Carry the regular ridged c-collars. We have also gotten some cheap adjustable c-collars which break in half when you fold them as we keep them hung on the oh crap bars on the top.
C-collars
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Stifneck Select.
Stifneck Select Pedi
fit 95%+ of patients, never breaks
In the local ED's they like the old-style "philly" collars - can't understand why - fits limited range of patients.
Jon
TTLWHKR
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Laerdal Stifneck. In the UK, they have entire catalogs with JUST C-COLLARS!
I WANT ONE!
In the nearly seven years I've been an EMT, at first I bought my own stuff, and adjustable collars were not popular. In fact the only company that sold adjustable collars, was Ambu, The ACE was only sold in GALLS.
The ACE collar fits everyone, perfectly, at the setting they require. HOWEVER! The Ace costs more than the Stifneck Select when purchased in bulk, so my service went w/ the select from Moore.
When we go to the ER, they take our 10 dollar collar (put it in their mass casualty room after it comes off the patient) and give us a $1.88 Philly "Small" Collar. No matter what size we gave them. If they do give our collar back w/ the board, another service steals it b4 we get a chance to pick it up.
I carry:
2 - Stifneck Select Pediatric Collars
1 - Ambu Pedi Ace Adj. Collar
2 - Infant No Neck
2 - Pediatric
1 - Xtra Short (Yes, it's called Xtra Short, and it is VERY THIN, I traded a demand valve for a box of misc stuff w/ an ambulance service in Maryland, this was included)
2 - Short
2 - Neck Less
4 - Stifneck Select Adult Collars
2 - Ambu ACE Adj. Adult Collar
2 - Tall Collars
I WANT ONE!
In the nearly seven years I've been an EMT, at first I bought my own stuff, and adjustable collars were not popular. In fact the only company that sold adjustable collars, was Ambu, The ACE was only sold in GALLS.
The ACE collar fits everyone, perfectly, at the setting they require. HOWEVER! The Ace costs more than the Stifneck Select when purchased in bulk, so my service went w/ the select from Moore.
When we go to the ER, they take our 10 dollar collar (put it in their mass casualty room after it comes off the patient) and give us a $1.88 Philly "Small" Collar. No matter what size we gave them. If they do give our collar back w/ the board, another service steals it b4 we get a chance to pick it up.
I carry:
2 - Stifneck Select Pediatric Collars
1 - Ambu Pedi Ace Adj. Collar
2 - Infant No Neck
2 - Pediatric
1 - Xtra Short (Yes, it's called Xtra Short, and it is VERY THIN, I traded a demand valve for a box of misc stuff w/ an ambulance service in Maryland, this was included)
2 - Short
2 - Neck Less
4 - Stifneck Select Adult Collars
2 - Ambu ACE Adj. Adult Collar
2 - Tall Collars
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You reuse your C-Collars? As far as we're concerned, they're disposable since there is no way to properly decontaminate themOriginally posted by Blueeighty8@Feb 9 2005, 01:35 PM
When we go to the ER, they take our 10 dollar collar (put it in their mass casualty room after it comes off the patient) and give us a $1.88 Philly "Small" Collar. No matter what size we gave them. If they do give our collar back w/ the board, another service steals it b4 we get a chance to pick it up.
Also, we use only the adjustable collars since buying only one type of adult and one type of peds keeps our costs down.
TTLWHKR
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I'll do that. Thanx
TTLWHKR
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You reuse your C-Collars? As far as we're concerned, they're disposable since there is no way to properly decontaminate themOriginally posted by ffemt8978+Feb 9 2005, 04:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ffemt8978 @ Feb 9 2005, 04:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Blueeighty8@Feb 9 2005, 01:35 PM
When we go to the ER, they take our 10 dollar collar (put it in their mass casualty room after it comes off the patient) and give us a $1.88 Philly "Small" Collar. No matter what size we gave them. If they do give our collar back w/ the board, another service steals it b4 we get a chance to pick it up.
Also, we use only the adjustable collars since buying only one type of adult and one type of peds keeps our costs down. [/b][/quote]
I soak them in chlorox for ten minutes, and keep them in case of a mass-casualty. It'd be like throwing away a wooden backboard after every use. Although we don't use wooden boards anymore, they can be useful in a disaster! As can the collars.
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I soak them in chlorox for ten minutes, and keep them in case of a mass-casualty. It'd be like throwing away a wooden backboard after every use. Although we don't use wooden boards anymore, they can be useful in a disaster! As can the collars. [/b][/quote]Originally posted by Blueeighty8+Feb 9 2005, 04:38 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Blueeighty8 @ Feb 9 2005, 04:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>@Feb 9 2005, 01:35 PM
When we go to the ER, they take our 10 dollar collar (put it in their mass casualty room after it comes off the patient) and give us a $1.88 Philly "Small" Collar. No matter what size we gave them. If they do give our collar back w/ the board, another service steals it b4 we get a chance to pick it up.
You reuse your C-Collars? As far as we're concerned, they're disposable since there is no way to properly decontaminate them
Also, we use only the adjustable collars since buying only one type of adult and one type of peds keeps our costs down.
Good idea. We might have to look into that.
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We use Laerdal StifNeck Select Collar and the Peds version.
rescuecpt
Community Leader Emeritus
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Us too.
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Got any other demand valves?????
PLEASE????
Jon
TTLWHKR
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Nope. Only had one, when I bought it w/ a hard orange case & E Cylinder, I was surprised to find the set it came with (and was MFG by) had no DISS port to hook it to. :blink: Oh well. Sold the kit on eBay, demand to that ambulance service. While they work okay for drownings and firefighters w/ smoke inhalation; I was told they are not to be used on ambulances in PA anymore. We used to have them w/ every kit.
Again, try eBay or a surplus auction!
Again, try eBay or a surplus auction!
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SafetyPro2
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We use the Ambu Perfit ACE and Mini Perfit ACE. The adult size are pre-packaged with the Head Wedge, which I absolutely hate (think its about worthless for immobilization). I'd much prefer to have one of those closed-cell/velcro head block set-ups, even if it did mean more decon.
PArescueEMT
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Us too.
[/b][/quote]ditto
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Would you really be applying c-collars in a mass disaster?
Would you apply them with 25 patients that require back boarding? 50? 100? 200?
We all know that most of our c-collars are just ripped off in the ED once we get there, and while I've always put one one even when I had a doubt, I'm not sure it would be the best use of resources in a huge MCI.
Comments?
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Would you really be applying c-collars in a mass disaster?
Would you apply them with 25 patients that require back boarding? 50? 100? 200?
We all know that most of our c-collars are just ripped off in the ED once we get there, and while I've always put one one even when I had a doubt, I'm not sure it would be the best use of resources in a huge MCI.
Comments? [/b][/quote]
I would, because all you need is for one of your patients to have required a C-Collar and you not apply it. You would have some major problems on your hands at that point.
I would say put c-collars on every one and if you run out then as you are putting people on back board tape their head to the board using LOTS of tape.
We infact just had an accident in town that had 7 people involved. We only have two rigs and had four plastic back boards in the rigs. We have at least another 4 wooden back boards in the garage for use in a MCI. Any how I was at the hospital and helping the nursing staff get ready. All 7 pts were brought in the two rigs they had four backboarded and c-collared one on each bench seat and cot. the other three were c-collared and sat in the front passenger seat and one rode in the jump seat. When they got to the hospital they took the two from the cot and bench seat leaving the others sitting quitely in the rigs with other EMTS around. had a couple firefighters go and get the wooden back boards from the garage and the did rapid extracation type of procedures on the other three to get them backboarded. It all worked well.
We infact just had an accident in town that had 7 people involved. We only have two rigs and had four plastic back boards in the rigs. We have at least another 4 wooden back boards in the garage for use in a MCI. Any how I was at the hospital and helping the nursing staff get ready. All 7 pts were brought in the two rigs they had four backboarded and c-collared one on each bench seat and cot. the other three were c-collared and sat in the front passenger seat and one rode in the jump seat. When they got to the hospital they took the two from the cot and bench seat leaving the others sitting quitely in the rigs with other EMTS around. had a couple firefighters go and get the wooden back boards from the garage and the did rapid extracation type of procedures on the other three to get them backboarded. It all worked well.
TTLWHKR
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Would you really be applying c-collars in a mass disaster?
Would you apply them with 25 patients that require back boarding? 50? 100? 200?
We all know that most of our c-collars are just ripped off in the ED once we get there, and while I've always put one one even when I had a doubt, I'm not sure it would be the best use of resources in a huge MCI.
Comments? [/b][/quote]
Sure! I'd collar every one I could! Why not give them the best possible treatment? I know when our stock is gone, the next service has the same thing.
My thoughts on disaster planning.
It's all about planning, and organizing your needs vs. your resources in time of disaster.
Thanks to the generous tax payers, we have available to us a large trailer w/ equipment to package. I have a list of school bus contractors, and the phone number of the funeral homes, and a guy who owns a large quantity of old dodge army ambulances to transport people to our planned triage/treatment area. It's a church ball room, people ask what the colored boxes on the floor mean (Green, yellow, red, black). We have 100+ stretchers, back boards, CID sets; dozens of cases of supplies; hundreds of blankets; and one triage tag for every person in our county; and we also have cases to set up an emergency disaster hospital; and plans to turn the local medical clinic into a small, but functional trauma center. Being that we are in the middle of nowhere, with limited resources, and not much by way of mutual aid; we have extensive supplies for incidents such as bus accidents and air craft disasters. We've had plane crashes here before, bus accidents. We know it can happen, After initial triage and tagging; when it comes time to transport those people to our secondary triage/treatment area; if we need to collar them, I want to have the equipment to do so.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Even if we don't use them for a disaster, we can always put them in trauma kits on our apparatus. Most of the time, the collars don't even have blood on them, but they are cleaned anyway.
I don't see what the big deal is with reusing them, in fact the director of the EMS region suggested that I just soak them for 10 minutes, instead of using the volitile chemical sterilizing solution I was before.
shorthairedpunk
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I was suplly officer when we decided to get the adjustables, we tried philly EMTs Choice, which were nice, and cheap, but they sat crooked and nobody remembered to lock them in position for size, we tried the Stiffneck Select, which were very nice but often cost prohibitive, then we got the AMBU Perfit ACE, which are awesome, they have 16 adjustments and are easy to use and to remember to lock in