c-spine

   C-Spine, C-Spine Run, Part 1 In this inaugural episode of the Medical Director Minute Podcast, we examine selective spinal immobilization / spinal motion restriction (SMR) guidelines to examine the literature behind most of these protocols. In recent years, there has been a movement to limit use of long spine boards, a former staple of EMS. While the use of spine boards for immobilization (aka, spinal motion restriction or SMR), there are some valid uses for spine boards as you can see in this youtube video (no, that’s not me in the video…). The two sets of guidelines most of these protocols are based onRead More →

  C-Spine, C-spine Run Part 2 In part 1 of this two-part series, we discussed the basis for selective spinal immobilization or the process of deciding to fully immobilize, partially immobilize or not immobilize a patient. We discussed the NEXUS and Canadian c-spine rules that are the basis for these protocols, with the majority using NEXUS as it is easier to use. For an in depth discussion of these rules, please either listen to or check out the show notes for that episode. Application: Now that we have discussed these rules, how do we apply this information to our patients? In order to accurately applyRead More →