Back Boarding Report

EMS 202
Written Report
Back Boarding
Michael Trujillo
05/11/2012

Is it essential to backboard blunt trauma patients? To answer this question, other questions must first be answered: “What is the history behind backboards?”, “Why is back boarding done?”, “Who gets back boarded?”, “How is Back boarding done?”, and most importantly “Does back boarding a trauma patient achieve the goal of spinal immobilization?”. Back boards (or LSB) were designed to be used for transport, and not extended use on a single patient (Merrifield, Battle, & Powe, 2007). Back boards were initially intended to help with the transfer of patients from scene to gurney, and from gurney to the hospital bed. However, they are not the best tools when…show more content…
A medical journal entry by Merrifield, Battle and Powe, explains the results of a study done at Gwinnett Medical Center emergency department (ED) in 2001. It was estimated that patients could average 6 to 12 hours lying on back boards while waiting for physician and radiological clearance at this facility. The ED/ICU staff wanted to see if it was possible to assess a patient immediately upon arrival to the ED by an RN to determine if a patient was able to be taken off of the LSB. Their goal was to maintain C-spine alignment and spinal immobilization on the hospital bed, and off of the LSB. This was an attempt to minimize those additional injuries. The ED physicians, trauma surgeons, and neurosurgeons came together to develop a protocol that would allow ED nurses to remove certain patients from backboards before the ED physician could assess the patient. The average back board time for patients who met the criteria for the study project protocols decreased from several hours to 8 to 14 minutes. No skin breakdown was noted, and also, there were no negative neurological injuries experienced by patients removed from back boards before a physician's clearance. Since there is no real way to truly “fully immobilize” a person, or evidence showing that back boards achieve the desired…show more content…
K., & Choi, J. (2006). Acute Spinal Injuries: Assessment and Management. EB Medicine, Retrieved from http://www.ebmedicine.net/topics.php?paction=showTopicSeg&topic_id=82&seg _id=1617
Long Spine Board. (n.d.). Neann Long Spine Board. Retrieved April 27, 2012, from http://www.neann.com/lsbonline.htm
Merrifield, D., Battle, D., & Powe, C. B. (2007). Clinical Care: Hey! I'm Strapped to this Board and Can't Get Up! . Journal of Trauma Nursing, 14(2), 67-69. http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JournalArticle.asp?Article_ID=728665
Shade, B. R., Collins Jr., T. E., Wertz, E. M., Jones, S. A., & Rothenberg, M. A. (2007). Trauma. In EMT-Intermediate Textbook. (3rd ed.). (pp. 563-572). St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby