The UK emergency department practice for spinal board unloading. Is there conformity?
BACKGROUND
Guidelines for the management of suspected spinal injury patients from the scene of their accident to the emergency department were published in September 1998. This study was commissioned on behalf of the Faculty of Pre-hospital Care at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, to examine the handling of patients on spinal boards on arrival in the emergency department.


METHODS
In July 2000, 132 postal questionnaires were sent to the consultants of the emergency departments in the United Kingdom (UK) that receive more than 50000 patients per annum. Four simple questions related to spinal board handling were asked.


RESULTS
A response rate of 63.6% was achieved and analysis showed that log roll was the technique most commonly used to remove the patient from the board in 90% of cases. In 76.3% of departments this occurred as part of secondary survey although in which part of the secondary survey that this took place was less clear.


CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that as the spine board is such a widely used piece of equipment, there should be some guidelines to standardise its use at the emergency department interface with pre-hospital care. We recommend that spinal board removal should be part of the completion of the primary survey.
Porter
K M
KM
University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust-Sellyoak, Raddlebarn Road, Birmingham B296JD, UK. kp999uk@aol.com
Allison
K P
KP
D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006113:United Kingdom