Extrication

[Rezq304]

Who handles it in your juristiction?

Here, EMS does extrication, however it wouldn't bother me to give it up and let the Fire Dept do the cutting. This is all assuming that ALL FD members become AT LEAST First Responder certified.

[akflightmedic]

Why would it bother you? Let them do it, who cares.

Where I worked, we utilized communication. The IC for the fire department would tell us his plan and how it may affect the pt as far as movement wise. He would even ask if it needed to be a quick get em out by any means necessary or does he have time to do this or that. It worked great. If the pt was accessible, a medic was inside the car at all times. The medic had the safety sign that would stop all extrication, movement, whatever should that become necessary. The medic is also outiftted with protective gear. As soon as the pt is accessible, the medic was the ones to lay hands on the patient.

All is takes is teamwork and communication.

Let them cut away, thats what they are there for...cutting cars, carrying my patients, doing compressions, fetching equipment, blocking the scene with their big truck, and occassionally putting out fires.

[Rezq304]

Good point. The one thing in your scenario that my area lacks is inter-departmental communication. It's almost as if the Fire Depts and EMS butt ehads everytime they work together.

[SSG G-man]

I run with a combined station and we work great together. At least once every month or two we do an extrication drill so we can get better at working together. We are also starting to bring one of the close by EMS only departments into these drills because an accident in their first due might have our squad responding, so they need to be comfortable working with us.

[weasel 108]

Our local Volly fire depts do our rescue,and they are very good at the job.

[MedicNorth]

Our FD is trained and on-call to do the extrications. Extrication is done in close consultation between EMS and the FD, with each step being clearly explained before it happens. The relationship between the two groups is superb, and has been very effective.

[nsmedic393]

The local VFD handles extrication everywhere in the province. Some departments do it better than others, some have better tools than others and some need to be reminded that we are in fact in charge of patient care even while extrication is in progress. Most departments are really good, it just depends where you happen to land.

[Ridryder 911]

I have worked at both. I personally favor FD performs this tasks. I still come from the mind set a charged line should be available as well as staging, shoring, stabilizing, etc.. which most EMS does not have the time or personal. This allows EMS to perform more patient care as well.

R/R 911

[nwoparamedics]

Here the Fire Services gain access for us, and we preform patient care and extrication.

As well, we have excellent communications between EMS and Fire. One of the medics is in with the patient, and one of the fire fighters kneeling right beside that medic, both of them sharing their plans of what they would like done for the benefit of the patient.

I'll say... hmm... thinking of KED'ing and then moving to spine board to ease extraction... he'll say... easier to flap the roof on this one... we both go....heh... lets do it this way then.

It did take a few years to get it to work so well for us, and along the way we ended up going into their "auto extrication" courses... demonstrating how and why we do the things we do. We did some presentations on our equipment, explained why we do certain things, and then helped out in a few demonstrations where they had to deal with us and a patient instead of just an empty vehicle.

In turn, they taught us how their equipment worked, ways to gain access to a patient, taught us all about the hazards that we had been overlooking (we had no idea about some of the new technology among other things... they just don't teach us that in EMS)... and this understanding helped both of us work together better at a scene.

I really loved learning how to use all the toys... what a blast... and now I understand a lot better of where they are coming from when they suggest a certain way to access the patient. But... I always make sure I tell them what I want first, and why I am thinking it (patient injuries, condition, etc...) and then we both work at it from there.

[n5iln]

FD does all extrications here, and they're very good at it whether they're volunteer or career. I volunteer with one of the local departments as well as ride with both a paid and volunteer ambulance, and the experience I gain from one, I find can be quickly applied with another.

Proper division of labor, that's the key.