Pediatric Spinal Imobilization

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PeteBlair

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My question is about pediatric spinal immobilization, specifically the use of the LSP INFANT/PEDIATRIC IMMOBILIZATION BOARD pictured in the attachment.

I am an EMT Basic who works on a volunteer emergency squad in a 55 plus retirement community of about 20,000 in Florida and we rarely have calls that involve anyone under the age of 50. For most of us on the squad, our actual EMS related experience with children is somewhere between slim and none.

How many of you have actually used this board, and how was the experience? Do you recommend using this device?

Thanks!
 

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  • Ped backboard1.jpg
    Ped backboard1.jpg
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This is a pretty standard board. I think every place I've worked has used it or something very similar. It does it's job, in a limited range of sizes. I'd say it tops out around 5 or 6 years old, when the kids are pushing 4 feet tall.

It doesn't work well on infants, but nothing really does. If I really needed to immobilize an infant (I think I've done it maybe 3 or 4 times ever), I use a long spine board and a lot of padding and cravats. This little pedi board's straps are not changable enough to accommodate a squirming baby.

The thing I don't like about these is that if you don't have some kind of over the shoulder and around the hips straps with the legs held in place separately, the child will still have free rotational movement. (Which is why I shudder when I see a child "immobilized" in a KED.)

Anyway, this is a fine tool to have on your ambulance, with a limited application.
 
I prefer to use the Pedi-pac. It provides a more flexible range of options beyond the spinal immobilisation.
 
I tend to lean tawrds using the KED. Its always worked well for me. I lay em flat on it, use the head flaps just as you would normally, then put rolled up towels along their sides and hips and use the side flaps to tighten it down. It works very well. once they out grow that i just use a longboard.
 
Nice idea

I'd tried the KED but couldn't get it to work because I had never heard of or considered using something to pad the sides. The side flaps were always too big to fit around the little bodies and tighten. I'm gonna have to look into this. :)

Let that be a lesson to you noobs, I've been doing this for 33 years, and I still learn new things.
 
that's an interesting question. I know on infants my instructor showed us how to immobilize the spine by using a vacuum splint, worked awesome too.
 
I used that board in class. It seemed like there were too many straps and it was too time consuming.

Where I used to run, we didnt carry those and just boarded everyone, young and old on a LSB. Worked perfectly well
 
jroyster06 said:
I tend to lean tawrds using the KED. Its always worked well for me. I lay em flat on it, use the head flaps just as you would normally, then put rolled up towels along their sides and hips and use the side flaps to tighten it down. It works very well. once they out grow that i just use a longboard.
Click to expand...

I will have to try this on my little kids soon. Sounds like it might work, but I will need to see it. Thanks for the tip!
 
We use the Iron Duck Pedi air-align... which is a small backboard with the big head accommodations. We switched when the LSP, ferno and papoose board gave us issues. The KED is always an option when our resources get low, but they too do not give great head immob... and they cover too much of the pt.

The issues with the other boards we found were pretty much all with the head immobilization. They do not hold the head great, even with over-zelous taping and various techniques. And because of most of them being so narrow, we had to shove them on an adult backboard and pad the sides. I never liked showing up at the ER with a pt out of allignment due to poor immobilization technique.

The Iron duck board, allows us to use our head beds ( or what ever you choose to use ), and even with the squirmiest kid... we get minimal movement. Far less than the past practices that we did. ( we also stopped using towel rolls, head blocks, etc .. because they don't give any "cupping" to the back of the head, which lack of will allow them to move thier heads around... even with tape all over.

The end handles also allow for the lower and upper cot belts to be threaded thru for securing them to the cot once immobilized ( the middle cot belt goes over the pt. )... the LSP one had loops at each end for the same result.

.. p.s. this is not an AD for sponsorship... just my own views...
 
My agency uses the pedi-pac. I have only used it once for an injured child after a fall off a horse. It is a bit cumbersome but it works well.
 
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