EMS is all about gadgets. From ambulances, monitoring equipment and data management to power gurneys, blood clotting agents and bone drills, our toolbox is filled with a wide range of technologically advanced products, compared to a mere twenty years ago.
However, as sophisticated as these products have become, sometimes it’s the simple things that make our professional lives easier or safer. This month we look at a couple more basic products that accomplish a task with little or no fanfare.
Medcare Wraps
Medcare Wraps is a small company based out of New Jersey that takes good old-fashioned gauze and roller bandages and rolls them into one very flexible bleeding control device that compresses the injury site and creates the substrate for a clot to form. For tricky scalp wounds, this bandage can’t be beat. It’s inexpensive, easy to use and designed for routine use.
Clear Collar
We’ve seen the mundane cervical collar evolve from a foam-filled, comfort-focused device to a fully adjustable cervical immobilization adjunct. Their use is widespread in EMS; despite some research that questions the frequency of spinal immobilization as related to actual spinal cord injury, there will be times that a well designed cervical collar will be required as part of the treatment.
Clear Collar is exactly what it says – a transparent cervical collar that allows the EMS providers to continue to visualize the soft tissues of the neck after placement. It’s a simple concept that makes obvious sense once you see it.
In addition to the material used, it comes in either an adjustable model or an array of nonadjustable versions.
BEAR-iatrics
No doubt you have experienced in your local region what many systems are reporting – patients have become heavier over the past few years. Specifically designed gurneys and ambulances have come into the marketplace to help EMS providers transport obese patients more safely.
One of the challenges that bariatric patients pose is not just weight, but how it’s distributed. Often centered in the abdominal region, the extra mass can shift from one side to another during transport, literally taking the patient off balance and causing potential loss of stability and gurney tipping. Gurney straps are often not long enough to hold the abdomen in place, and jury-rigging bandages, cravats and 9-foot webbing is not very pretty and, more importantly, can be uncomfortable for the patient.
BEAR-iatrics manufactures a lightweight nylon device that is designed to address this issue. BEAR stands for Bariatric Equalizing Abdominal Restraint; by wrapping the patient in the BEAR, the patient’s center of mass is stabilized and the risk of falling or gurney tipping is reduced significantly. Patients report that it is a comfortable device and provides them a level of reassurance during transport.
While not a carrying device, the BEAR can be a real back-saver when the patient is more safely secured on the gurney.
What simple device do you use?
There are many EMS products that you use in your daily routine. What have you found that has made some procedure or process easier to perform, and relatively inexpensive to boot? We’d love to hear about it! You can send us an e-mail or provide your thoughts in the comment section below.
