I've been drinking from that fountain. Semi rigid c-spine collars have been receiving a drubbing in recent times (Search the c-spine collar tag over to the right of this page). And with good reason, I thought; though I will admit to not being quite ready to throw them away completely as I have been a long time practicioner of avoiding the "always/never" ultimatum.


Then trauma master, Karim Brohi, Professor of Trauma Sciences at Barts and the London School of Medicine, and Consultant in Trauma & Vascular surgery at the Royal London Hospital, stood up at SMACC Dublin to debate against airway master Darren Braude, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology and the Tim Fleming Professor of EMS at the University of New Mexico (amongst other accolades) and gave this contra argument to throwing away the collar for good.


(Originally published on the SMACC website here)



Hmm! I like where Karim went with this and it settled a minor unease that I had in reaction to both sides of semi rigid collar extremism. The collar, while it certainly has the potential for adverse effects as does any intervention, is not the main problem; it's the practice that surrounds it and the awareness of all aspects of its use by the person who's hand is fixing the velcro in place.

Release your opinions below ..... just keep it clean.