Several days ago we had a van over and embankment (20 feet, laying partially on its side, unstable) and the driver was pinned in the wreckage. He also was inpaled with a metal bar through his leg. The extrication took one hour and forty minutes.
He was removed and airlifted to Harborview in Seattle and is making good progress. The patient was alert and oriented throughout the whole process.
We are taking some heat because of the time involved in safely removing the patient. We keep getting the "Golden Hour" thrown at us.
As the command officer I have reviewed the operation with the extrication crews and medics. All agree it was one of the most difficult extrication tasks they had ever worked. The one sentence we hear is that the crews were "not aggressive enough."
My feeling is we had an alert patient, literally pinned and a slow and cautious was the right approach. In talking to the crews they all stated if the patient was not alert and oriented and/or in resp. distress or worse they would have found a way to yank him
even if required a scaple.
Any comments or items of discussion would be appreciated.
He was removed and airlifted to Harborview in Seattle and is making good progress. The patient was alert and oriented throughout the whole process.
We are taking some heat because of the time involved in safely removing the patient. We keep getting the "Golden Hour" thrown at us.
As the command officer I have reviewed the operation with the extrication crews and medics. All agree it was one of the most difficult extrication tasks they had ever worked. The one sentence we hear is that the crews were "not aggressive enough."
My feeling is we had an alert patient, literally pinned and a slow and cautious was the right approach. In talking to the crews they all stated if the patient was not alert and oriented and/or in resp. distress or worse they would have found a way to yank him
even if required a scaple.
Any comments or items of discussion would be appreciated.
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