Mike
I know the list for alerting the hospital is correct and technically
validated. However, it has always seemed to me that several of the criteria
are either impractical or unrealistic:
Who knows the closing speed of two cars in an RTA -- they either end up a
long way apart, in which case a reasonable speed seems likely, or locked
together when its any-ones guess (engine in a field is a dead give-away) ---
I imagine you don't start measuring skid marks when you arrive.
Rearward displacement of the front axle -- who ever checks?
30 degree deformity - anyone there with a protractor?
Passenger intrusion 18" on patient side or 24" !! on other side -- again
who's measuring.
In practice we all eyeball the scene and make judgements based on all the
above but I've long thought the measuring of anything a job for the accident
investigation unit or the research labs.
It would seem that this is again something that should be taught not as a
precise science but as an aid developing a good qualitative sense of what is
going on and encouraging a thinking approach to the patient.
Graham Gardner
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