Spine board or Vacmat?

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Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on November 14, 2009 at 10:49am

If all the texts, specialty courses (PHTLS etc.) and instructors teach long board, then you have a "standard of care" that nobody's going to go up against unless they are brave, have courageous medical direction etc.

And of course a good buget.

This is not an either-or proposition. You could carry both and use the less comfortable option where necessary.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on November 14, 2009 at 11:45am

Sending the hospital the bill for EMS equipment they negligently destroy in the removal process tends to eliminate the physician or nurse-induced equipment destruction very quickly.


Chance Gearheart said:

I haven't used a vacmat, but I love vacuum splints. Unfortunately, the vac splints are incredibly expensive if they need to be replaced - and I've actually stood there with my mouth gaping open as a Trauma resident cut through my vac splint. Spine boards can work effectively if you take the time and Pad for your patients, rather than just trying to fit them to the board like I see so many people do.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Dutton on November 14, 2009 at 12:22pm

Interesting that these are still being discussed decades after their introductions. I first used one in the late '70s when a sales rep gave us a loaner. As I recall, the cost was an issue, and they never seemed to take hold back then. We were told by the sales rep that use in Canada and Europe was wide-spread.

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