EMS Care Chapter 32 | Head, Neck & Spine Injuries

EMS Care Chapter 32 | Head, Neck & Spine Injuries | Head, Neck & Spine Injuries Training begins with an introduction to the care of the subject. We subsequently explore  in-depth the following lessons:

Lesson 1: Anatomy & Physiology of the Head, Neck, & Spine

Lesson 2: Head, Neck & Brain Injuries

Lesson 3: Injuries to the Spine

Lesson 4: Patient Assessment & Care

Lesson 5: Patient Preparation and Transport

Caring for the patient with Head, Neck & Spine Injuries

We cover the following core concepts

• Diabetes and various diabetic emergencies.
• Understanding the anatomy of the nervous system, head, and spine.
• Identifying skull and brain injuries and their emergency care.
• Knowledge of trauma to the neck and related EMS care.
• Recognizing and assessing spinal injuries and their pre-hospital care. And,
• Awareness of spinal motion restriction issues and methods to immobilize various kinds of patients with potential spine injuries.

Important Notes:

• If you only want to take the online course for CME credit, you can pay here.  The fee for online-only does NOT include a skills session nor (re)certification.  You will receive a certificate for CME credit after successful completion of the course.
• This course is part of the EMT Recertification Day 5 curriculum and the New Initial EMT Course.  Hence, if you sign up for one of those courses, you will be automatically enrolled in this course. Click here for scheduled courses.
• To get credit for this course, you must watch all the lessons in their entirety, the course review, and pass the quiz at the end with a score of 75% or better.

An Excerpt from the course on Diabetic Emergencies and Altered Mental Status

So, with most head, neck and spine injuries, it’s best to perform a secondary assessment while en route to the hospital.  Remember to check perfusion, motor function, and sensation in all extremities, prior to moving the patient.

Step 1 is to obtain a complete set of baseline vital signs. Some things to keep in mind are:

• Significant head injuries may cause the pulse to slow and the blood pressure to rise.
• With neurogenic shock, the blood pressure may drop and the heart rate may increase to compensate.
• Respirations will become erratic with complications from both head and spine injuries.
• Hypotension may be present with cervical or high thoracic spine injuries. The heart rate may become slow, or fail to increase in response to hypotension.

In addition to hands-on assessment, you should use monitoring devices to quantify your patient’s oxygenation and circulatory status.

• Again, oxygenation is recommended.
• Look for a pulse oximeter value above 95.
• If you have end tidal carbon dioxide monitoring equipment, look to maintain E T C O2 between 35 and 40 mm mercury.

Also, during your exam, as time permits:

• Examine the entire body using DCAP-BTLS.

Be sure to scrutinize the head, chest, abdomen, extremities, and back.