[MCOH-EH] patient removal from cars

[Sampson, Deborah]

We too have been struggling with the issue of removing patients from cars and I have Benn sending all the comments on this list serv to our Safety and ED people (de-identified of course). We have analyzed the boom and sling type egress devices and have concerns with the time it takes to actually position and use these.

How do others handle extracting an unresponsive patient from a vehicle? Do you take the time to use the car extractor or do you climb in, use a flexible plastic board if it can be fit in the car, or just get ED employees (including security) to grab and load onto a stretcher?

Our ED staff are concerned about devices taking time and/or not fitting into a car as well as time being of the essence for saving the patient's life. Hoping there may be some information we could utilize to minimize the likelihood of employee injuries with the extraction while still unloading someone with an OD, cardiac arrest, and the like from the back of a 2 door small sedan with a hard-top!

Using fire and police or other first responders are not options for us.

Our other issue is, of course, that our driveway is not covered-a distinct issue for using car extraction devices in a winter ice or snow storm in New England.

Thanks

Deborah A. Sampson, PhD, APRN, COHN-S, FAANP
Director
Employee Health and Wellness Services
Southern New Hampshire Health   P.O.Box 2014   8 Prospect Street   Nashua, NH 03060
p(603) 281-8583  f (603) 577-5665
deborah.sampson at snhhealth.org<mailto:deborah.sampson at snhhealth.org>

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