Evaluation of the Nursing C-Spine (Phase IV) (NCT01353352) | Clinical Trial Compass
CompletedPhase 4
Evaluation of the Nursing C-Spine (Phase IV)
Canada3,633 participantsStarted 2008-01
Plain-language summary
Neck injuries are a common problem among blunt trauma victims with more than 8,000,000 cases being seen annually in U.S. and Canadian EDs. While the majority of these cases represent soft tissue injuries, 30,000 patients suffer cervical spine fractures or dislocations and approximately 10,000 suffer spinal cord injury. There are no readily available national Canadian data on ED visits such as those provided by the U.S. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The prevalence of potential neck injury can, however, be reasonably estimated for Canadian EDs. Extrapolation, on a population basis, from reliable U.S. figures suggests that 1.3 million potential neck injury patients are seen annually in Canada. Only 0.9% of these patients are found to have cervical spine fractures or dislocations.
Who can participate
Age range16 Years
SexALL
See this in plain English?
AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Inclusion Criteria:
The investigators will enroll consecutive alert, stable adults presenting to the study hospital EDs with potential c-spine injury after sustaining acute blunt trauma. These will be patients presenting with neck pain or with c-spine immobilization on an ambulance stretcher. Patient eligibility will be determined based on these criteria at the time of arrival in the ED.
* "Potential c-spine injury after sustaining acute blunt trauma" will include patients with either: i) neck pain with any mechanism of injury (subjective complaint by the patient of any pain in the posterior aspect of the neck), and/or ii) presentation by ambulance with c-spine immobilization after injury (typically backboard and collar).
* "Alert" is defined as a Glasgow Coma Scale103 score of 15 (converses, fully oriented, and follows commands).
* "Stable" refers to normal vital signs as defined by the Revised Trauma Score31 (systolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg or greater and respiratory rate between 10 and 24 breaths per minute).
* "Acute" refers to injury within the past 48 hours.
Exclusion Criteria:
* Patients under the age of 16 years,
* Patients who do not satisfy the definition of "potential c-spine injury" as defined above (for example, patients with neither neck pain nor arriving with ambulance c-spine immobilization will be excluded),
* Patients with Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 15,
* Patients with unstable vital signs (systolic BP \< 90; respiratory rate less than 10 or morā¦
What they're measuring
1
Determine safety: Number of missed CSI & Number of serious adverse outcomes Determine clinical impact: C-spine clearance rates by nurses & Lengths of time