Reviewing the "Mechanism of Injury"

[rmoore]

Here's a good visual example to share with your department members when the topic of mechanism of injury comes up. The image is of a 2003 Ford Ranger pickup truck with the third door open. What is worth discussing is how the front seat occupants are facing a different direction than the rear jump seat passengers.

Now pretend that the vehicle has a head-on collision. Only the occupants in the front seat actually have a frontal crash. For your patients sitting in the rear at the moment of the crash, they actually experience a side-impact collision. Their mechanism of injury is very different from that of the driver and front passenger.

Next time patient assessment comes up in discussion, remember this example of occupant seating arrangements. Reinforce why during patient assessment, we need to try to figure out where the patient was seated. It does have an influence on how they are injured and what we find when we get to them.

Note also on this particular vehicle, the driver's seatbelt is attached to the third door. Cut or unbuckle it before you do any forcible door work on this side. Also, the uppermost hinge of the third door is still lower than the dash level. This means that the roof can be totally removed without having to take the third door off the vehicle.

[ADSNWFLD]

Good points about mechanism of injury. The jump seats don't have a lot of room to sit in them so I feel it would act much like a school bus seat. They do have lap belts so the patient should stay in the seats. This isn't a new feature my 92 F150 has he same type of seats.
Thanks for pointing out some of the more uinusual features of todays cars. Also a good point about the driver's seatbelt.

[NB87JW]

ADSNWFLD Thanks for pointing out out that this is not a new feature (Ron knows this too). Any one of us with any time have seen these types of vehicles in wrecks. Injuries are indeed different than "typical" vehicles. Passengers in the rear seats receive "temporal" head injuries from the front occupants when their heads bang. Even the newer vehicles don't help these folks with the SI (side impact) airbags.

I think one of Ron's best points here is that "the driver's seatbelt is attached to the third door" His statement ------> "Cut or unbuckle it before you do any forcible door work on this side" This is a MUST.

I am sure Ron will concur. WE MUST broaden our extrication training from the Junkyards to the dealerships. Balancing the extrication evolutions with the revolutionary ideas.

Be safe.

Fraternally, Jordan