Struggling with longboard - tips?

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aspiringemt

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Hi guys! I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right spot, but I'll post here for now. Last time I posted I said I wanted to be an EMT and now I'm finally taking the class :)

I've been struggling with strapping a patient on a longboard in <10 mins. In fact, it takes me 20 minutes because the straps twist and I get confused whether or not I'm going in the right way. Does anyone have any tips on how to overcome this? Or am I the only one that struggles with this?
 
What kind of straps are you using?

Most longboard straps are pretty intuitive, so you can do it in the dark/mud/while employed as a firefighter.

The oddball "one strap and a d ring" system is bizarre, but is common in CA. Most other places use clip/pin systems, spider straps or just leave a set of straps attached to the board.
 
The D-rings are the only strapping device we use in my area and the one we teach and test students out on for the college EMT program I teach skills for.

Take your time and don't try to rush it. Normally a twist or 2 is fine and won't make a difference. Strapping a patient to a LSB is muscle memory. The more you do it, the faster you will get at doing it. Ask your instructors to let you have more time with it.
 
No special tricks, just holding something to a board, it's an unfamiliar pattern to you. Find another student with ANY degree of enthusiasm and have him/her go through the motions with you.
 
Just practice. Try to get some time before or after class to just play around with the equipment, and you'll figure it out.
 
DEmedic said:
while employed as a firefighter.
Click to expand...

-_-

Pretty much what everyone else is saying, just takes time and practice to get it down.
 
It's totally area dependent, too. In Yakima they used what we called "black widow" straps. Spider straps in tacti-cool black. Talk about a confusing mess of Velcro. The color coding does help.

I'd been accustomed to speed clips, they're quick and easy and you can get them super tight if you pad all of the voids.

My current service uses disposable straps looped around the handholds on the board. A pain to get tight, and they come already attached to the board by the previous crew. Not ideal, but it's how they do things.

I learned the one strap/d ring thing and immediately said "nope". Far too complicated.
 
Spider straps nom nom nom.

Of course we have the vacuum mattresses now so those only really get used with the scoop.
 
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