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Prehospital personnel across the U.S. routinely place injured patients in spinal immobilization, yet whether this practice changes patient outcomes is not clear. To study whether immobilization is beneficial requires first determining whether it is properly carried out. Researchers assessed the adequacy of spinal immobilization in a prospective study of a convenience sample of 50 noncritically injured, adult, English-speaking patients who were transported to a single level I trauma center.
Most patients (82%) were immobilized on a backboard with four straps (range, 3 to 8). Overall, 30% of patients had at least one point where the strap or piece of tape was unattached (forehead, chin, right board, or left board), and 12% had two unattached p…