Extrication; Roadside to Resus
Summary
This episode delves into the critical field of extrication for road traffic collision patients, introducing the groundbreaking EXIT project's findings. It discusses how traditional spinal immobilization techniques often delay critical care without significant evidence, highlighting the project's data on patient demographics, injury patterns, and biomechanical analysis of extrication methods. The discussion emphasizes prioritizing rapid extrication and even self-extrication, backed by patient experience and expert consensus, to improve patient outcomes by minimizing entrapment time.Episode description
Despite all the improvements that we have seen in trauma care over the past 20 or more years RTCs are still, sadly, a really common cause of both death and disability, with the number of deaths annually in the UK sitting somewhere between 1500-1900 per annum.
Survivors, who have serious injuries and are left with ongoing disabilities, total 22,000 people per year.
So anything we can do to improve care to these patients is definitely worth looking at and learning about!
Extrication is the process of injured (or potentially injured) patients being removed from vehicles involved in road traffic collisions. The fundamentals behind extrication have been based upon protecting the spine and not worsening an injury of it, but at the potential cost of other time critical injuries and with limited to no sound evidence base.
The EXIT project brings evidence to the practice of extrication and in this podcast we discuss the findings and implications for practice with the lead author Tim Nutbeam, Clare Bosanko (an EM & PHEM consultant) along with the three of us.
We also get the opportunity to hear from Freddie, a patient extricated from a high energy RTC and hear his perspective on Extrication.
Enjoy!
Simon, Rob & James