Re: Use of scoop stretchers by flight services

["Jerry Ziegler" <Jziegler@rmhllc.com>]

Allan,

     The 1997 edition of the Advanced Trauma Life Support for Doctors book in the chapter on Spinal injuries, State that a scoop stretcher is good for moving patients but with spinal injured patients the stretcher should not be picked up by just the head and feet because the stretcher design allows it to give in the middle there for causing movement of the spine. It states that if a scoop stretcher is used to move a spinalyy injured patient it must be supported in the middle also.

 

                                                            Jerry Ziegler

                                                           LifeNet Florida

----- Original Message -----

From: Allan Rice

To: flightmed@flightweb.com

Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 5:35 PM

Subject: Use of scoop stretchers by flight services

Does anyone know of any flight service that packages and transports a patient using only a scoop stretcher (no backboard or transport board)?  I am dealing with a service that uses these devices by themselves, even when transferring a patient with a known spinal injury.  This contradicts everything I know about scoop stretchers and their intended use.

 

If anyone can point me toward documentation proving or disproving the use of scoop stretchers by themselves as a spinal immobilization device, I would be very grateful.

 

Allan Rice, EMT-P, RN