zeektheman
Forum Ride Along
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I work in a region with a fairly liberal spinal immobilization protocol. The protocol does have some restrictions though ( age greater than 65 and significant MOIs). I have a scenario I want to run by you guys.
I responded for a 50 year old male who fell about 3 ft off of a ladder. The male stated that he lost his footing resulting in the fall. The patient was CAOX4 and denied any LOC. The patient presented with a possible break to his lower right arm as well as a one inch laceration to his head. I conducted a thorough assessment and found that the patient did not complain of any neck/back pain, numbness and tingling, palpation of spine was normal and no pain upon ROM of the neck. I deferred spinal immobilization. But when I got to the ED the nurse practically died when she saw that the patient did not have spinal precautions in place. She stated that a "fall from 3 ft that involves any head trauma should be immobilized!" What do you guys think about immobilizing this patient?
I responded for a 50 year old male who fell about 3 ft off of a ladder. The male stated that he lost his footing resulting in the fall. The patient was CAOX4 and denied any LOC. The patient presented with a possible break to his lower right arm as well as a one inch laceration to his head. I conducted a thorough assessment and found that the patient did not complain of any neck/back pain, numbness and tingling, palpation of spine was normal and no pain upon ROM of the neck. I deferred spinal immobilization. But when I got to the ED the nurse practically died when she saw that the patient did not have spinal precautions in place. She stated that a "fall from 3 ft that involves any head trauma should be immobilized!" What do you guys think about immobilizing this patient?