The Clinical Skills of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Personnel Regarding Spinal Immobilization of TraumaVictims; a Cross Sectional Study

Spinal immobilization is the most important measure the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) hasto take when facing the victims of traumatic events, especially those with confirmed or suspected traumaticspinal cord injury (TSCI). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical skills of EMS personnel regardingthe spinal immobilization of trauma victims.

This cross-sectional study was conducted to examinethe clinical skills of EMS personnel, regarding spinal immobilization of trauma victims during a 1-year periodin 2019. EMS personnel were selected via convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were a demo-graphic questionnaire and a researcher-made checklist to assess clinical skills. The face and content validityof the tool was reviewed and approved by 10 experts. Also, the overall reliability coefficient for the skills was0.98. Data were collected by the researcher through observing the skills performed, and filling out the clinicalskills checklist accordingly.

The mean overall score of the clinical skills of the 120 participants regardingspinal immobilization of trauma victims in supine, prone, and sitting positions were 0.60±1.44, 0.58±1.42and 0.65±1.62, respectively. Most of the studied personnel had moderate clinical skills in spinal immobiliza-tion, and they had poor clinical skills required to correctly pull the trauma victims in the longitudinal axis of thebody to put them on a long backboard and immobilize their torso, legs, and head using the Kendrick ExtricationDevice (KED).

The studied EMS personnel had moderate clinical skills regarding the spinal immo-bilization of trauma victims. It is recommended that the EMS training programs focus more on the practicalaspects of clinical skills in addition to theoretical aspects.