Jon Bury wrote:
> Can anyone of a pre-hospital / immediate care persuasion tell me what the
> role of C-Spine precautions in treating an attempted hanging
Jon
I'm afraid that the hangings I have been called to have all been
successful - a tribute either to the determination of the people of
Lincolnshire, or to their body mass index, perhaps - but I follow the
same standard approach to any such incident:
Safety: watch for the victim falling onto you.
stabilisation with helpers taking the weight
I control the head, using as best in-line immobilisation as possible
(I'd advise your #1 hands as the best bit of kit here - by all menas
swap for a collar later).
AcBC etc
Always consider using adjuncts to help you - perhaps a KED, or a long
spine board would actually help you to extricate what is, in essence, a
trapped patient - trapped vertically, with constriction of their neck. I
have done a very careful long board extrication of someone with a
fracture dislocation of C6 who was sat on a fence at the roadside, with
lots of help from Ambulance and Fire Crews.
Andrew Mowat
BASICS Doctor
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