Aidey
Community Leader Emeritus
- 4,800
- 11
- 38
And what good is a helicopter going to be for DKA?
Flying a fall Victim
- Thread starter CPRinProgress
- Start date
And what good is a helicopter going to be for DKA?
DesertMedic66
Forum Troll
- 11,320
- 3,492
- 113
Zebras?
DrankTheKoolaid
Forum Deputy Chief
- 1,344
- 21
- 38
re
If there was no spinal tract tenderness to palpation and no neuro deficits there would have been no reason to even backboard this patient.
Over the years I have come across many many patients who complain of spinal tenderness to palpation and maybe 0.5% actually had an injury.
On the other hand, I have never encountered a spinal injury that was not tender to palpation.
And what's with your EMD process that launched a Helicopter with a hospital 10 minutes from the residence. It takes 10 minutes just to round the crew up and get airborn in most cases unless they happen to be on the pad or already in the air. (actually I guess you cant fault the EMD process for whatever code response it came up with, Garbage in and garbage out and if the caller said the wrong things they are just following protocols)
And by the time the flight crew arrived at scene and shut down and took over the patient (remember hot loading is not the safest practice and is frowned upon in most air services, unless a truly time sensitive patient) which they would have ruled out during your report to them while they were en route to you. They would then have to restart the helo which also takes time. The patient would have been in the skilled hands of a ED doc with lab/Xray/CT etc etc long before the bird could have arrived and left with the packaged patient by grounding this seemingly uninjured patient, by your OP account.
You made the right call.
If there was no spinal tract tenderness to palpation and no neuro deficits there would have been no reason to even backboard this patient.
Over the years I have come across many many patients who complain of spinal tenderness to palpation and maybe 0.5% actually had an injury.
On the other hand, I have never encountered a spinal injury that was not tender to palpation.
And what's with your EMD process that launched a Helicopter with a hospital 10 minutes from the residence. It takes 10 minutes just to round the crew up and get airborn in most cases unless they happen to be on the pad or already in the air. (actually I guess you cant fault the EMD process for whatever code response it came up with, Garbage in and garbage out and if the caller said the wrong things they are just following protocols)
And by the time the flight crew arrived at scene and shut down and took over the patient (remember hot loading is not the safest practice and is frowned upon in most air services, unless a truly time sensitive patient) which they would have ruled out during your report to them while they were en route to you. They would then have to restart the helo which also takes time. The patient would have been in the skilled hands of a ED doc with lab/Xray/CT etc etc long before the bird could have arrived and left with the packaged patient by grounding this seemingly uninjured patient, by your OP account.
You made the right call.
Last edited by a moderator:
unleashedfury
Forum Asst. Chief
- 729
- 3
- 0
You did everything correct in my book, I would have did the same thing. the patient didn't complain of any pain during your assessment. he landed on carpeted stairs and was hemodynamically, neurologically stable upon assessment.
I'm not a strong believer in aeromedical based on mechanism of injury. There have been horrific motor vehicle accidents with pts who rolled their car 2 or 3 times with intrusion and walked away, where people who have struck a small tree at a slow speed have serious injuries.
I have a trauma center less than an hour away on a good day. so if I really wanted to I could ground pound it to a trauma center. Based on the situation you described I would have taken him local to find out he has a fracture in the vertebrae. If the ED team gave you grief. I'd say well if he offered no complaints of pain, and had no noted deformity what would you do. When a portable xray becomes part of my assessment then we'll make that call.
I'm not a strong believer in aeromedical based on mechanism of injury. There have been horrific motor vehicle accidents with pts who rolled their car 2 or 3 times with intrusion and walked away, where people who have struck a small tree at a slow speed have serious injuries.
I have a trauma center less than an hour away on a good day. so if I really wanted to I could ground pound it to a trauma center. Based on the situation you described I would have taken him local to find out he has a fracture in the vertebrae. If the ED team gave you grief. I'd say well if he offered no complaints of pain, and had no noted deformity what would you do. When a portable xray becomes part of my assessment then we'll make that call.
CentralCalEMT
Forum Captain
- 254
- 88
- 28
I agree with most of the posters here. You made the correct call. Until they start giving EMS Xray vision, these types of things will happen rarely. Assuming the patient is alert, has no neuro deficits, and no indication of a fracture, then you made the right call. Did you find out how bad the fracture was anyway? It's possible it was just a hairline fracture.
Also, if we used helicopters for every patient like this, then the helicopter would not be available for more serious calls. If I had flown a patient out presenting like that in my system, it's possible I would get a QI flag and have to explain myself.
Also, if we used helicopters for every patient like this, then the helicopter would not be available for more serious calls. If I had flown a patient out presenting like that in my system, it's possible I would get a QI flag and have to explain myself.