Looking for Backboarding Lesson Plans

[Joey]

I've been volunteered to to conduct training at work on how to properly apply a C collar & then backboard the patient.

I'd like to hit on not only how to do it, but why, proper assessment & then what happens when you are on the board to long..

Anywhoo... can you recommend any web sites that have lesson plan's or other info I can draw from for such a class.

 

[MrBrown]

The preponderance of scientific evidence is that strapping people to rigid long spine boards does more harm than good. We have never really used them to any great degree, only for a brief period in the 1980s/1990s when it was trendy, and have used the scoop stretcher since the early 70s.

Exactly who are you teaching?

 

[Joey]

The preponderance of scientific evidence is that strapping people to rigid long spine boards does more harm than good. We have never really used them to any great degree, only for a brief period in the 1980s/1990s when it was trendy, and have used the scoop stretcher since the early 70s.

Interesting on how different parts of the world do different things is it not.

Exactly who are you teaching?

Hospital staff who will teach others & who respond to accidents in the hospital and on the property. They have medical background but very few have been in EMS and need to learn how and when to backboard.

 

[MrBrown]

Hospital staff who will teach others & who respond to accidents in the hospital and on the property. They have medical background but very few have been in EMS and need to learn how and when to backboard.

Um, if Nana falls over in the hospital corridor you're going to slap her on a backboard?

 

[Joey]

Um, if Nana falls over in the hospital corridor you're going to slap her on a backboard?

In the course of a year we had somebody fall that broke C3 & C4, somebody else fell that fractured C2 and a couple more falls that also fractured some vertebra. Should we let then walk around or ride in a wheelchair, or take proper C-spine protection measures?

Not every fall needs C-spine procedures but once in a while they are needed, thus having to educate the employees for the betterment of the patient.

Now Mr Brown, can you help in my search for information or not?

 

[MrBrown]

Brown has some PDFs that Brown will find when Brown gets home from work

For the examples you provide, Brown would put a collar on them but wouldn't put them on a long board. Again, the evidence does not support its use.

 

[Aidey]

Brown's point is that even with an injury there are better options. Especially in a hospital where you are not restricted by stupid DOT standards.

 

[Joey]

Brown has some PDFs that Brown will find when Brown gets home from work

Thank you Mr Brown!

For the examples you provide, Brown would put a collar on them but wouldn't put them on a long board. Again, the evidence does not support its use.

Yes the long board is over used, no question about that but when you are in a protocol driven service you must abide by your protocols if you want to stay employed and putting food on the table.

We have also had times when a C collar is applied, but no board, every situation is different and here again we must follow the established procedures and protocols those who get paid more than we do set up and instructed us to follow.

 

[Joey]

Brown's point is that even with an injury there are better options. Especially in a hospital where you are not restricted by stupid DOT standards.

True you can have better options.

When the emergency room Dr is standing there & says to take C spine precautions & board the person does one argue? Or when you have written protocols in place for falls established by hospital management and you deviate from those written procedures should one get written up?

Catch 22

Since I've been selected to instruct a class on how to use the long board along with the C collar, going back to my original post I'm looking for information not only how to use the long board and straps, but why and when along with proper assessment & what happens when you are on the board to long.

 

[medicdan]

I also have a lot of resources, i'll PM you once i'm home from work.

 

[SanDiegoEmt7]

Even working under protocols, its nice when providers are allowed to rule in/out c-spine based on signs/symptoms and certain criteria as opposed to simply mechanism.