New Spinal Motion Restriction Consensus Statement from ACS-COT, ACEP and NAEMSP

After three years of work and more than 30 drafts reviewed, the physician-led organizations in our profession have published a consensus guideline to help us move forward in our care of traumatized patients with potential spinal injury. Additional patient-centered organizations have added their support of the new evidence-driven guidance, which was recently published in Prehospital Emergency Care. Many hours of back-and-forth review and compromise centered around the wording, which has resulted in a document that will help change our culture. As is often the case, strongly held beliefs and years of tradition in our education processes have had to be addressed and science injected to help in developing the guideline. Some would say this document doesn't go far enough, while others would say it has gone too far. The beauty is that through discussion, debate and consensus-building, we have alignment in our profession. This can stand as a foundation for developing additional research and patient-oriented outcomes regarding the management of these patients. Implementing the Principals "Spinal motion restriction" reflects terminology that's accurate and more closely demonstrates our goal. Realistically, we don't actually provide "spinal immobilization" in the prehospital arena. This wording change is reflective of the challenges the women and men who led this charge had to face. We appreciate their efforts and leadership. Three years may seem like a long ti...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Trauma Exclusive Articles News Source Type: news