Safety In Training- Are We Too Protective?

[lutan1]

There seems to be a big push in all areas of training to protect our own from possible injuries as a result of accidents in training.

For example not using live casualties during metal movement evolutions or training with cars that are fitted with live air bags.

Are we being too protective? Are we preparing our next lot of first responders to fail because they don't understand the hazards, etc?

[Bones42]

Are we being too protective

No, we're learning from our mistakes and working smarter.

Are we preparing our next lot of first responders to fail because they don't understand the hazards, etc

No, we're keeping them healthy so they can continue to learn and be around to do it.


I don't need to make someone sit in a car that is crushed up to make the learning/training realistic. I don't need to have a loaded airbag in the car to get people to realize what it would do if it went off. Use videos, use props, use pictures, don't risk it.

Are we saying it's not really a risk if don't disable those items in training like we do on actual calls?


Good questions Lutan1, hopefully will bring some good dialogue back.

[lutan1]

Good questions Lutan1, hopefully will bring some good dialogue back.

I hope so too! There's a lot of mixed thoughts out there on training realism. Maybe I've posted this in the wrong section, however....

[MetalMedic]

While I would never put a real victim in a car with a live airbag for training, I do not totally agree with never having a student inside a vehicle while an extrication evolution is going on. From a patient care standpoint, I think it is important that the students get to experiences the noises that are heard from inside a vehicle so that they can appreciate how those sounds can affect patient care. You just need to use some common sense, take your time, and be sure you have a "safety officer" observing the evolution for potential hazards.

While I would not be inclined to do a complete roof removal or a dash roll, I am relatively comfortable with a door removal and flapping a roof while I have one student act as a "victim" and a second act as the initial care giver who has to crawl into the car and maintain c-spine and practice talking to the victim. I recently helped teach a basic EMT class that had a few students who were ER nurses that have never worked on a squad and were taking the class in order to move into a Mobile Intensive Care transport role. For them, I felt it very useful to have them experience what their patients may have gone through before they arrived in the ER. This also allows immediate feedback to the students from the victim who can describe how well they felt they were handled throughout the removal. We received all positive comments on this class, so I beleive the benefits outweigh the potential for injury.

Being inside or outside of the vehicle presents an equal amount of danger in my opinion. We must not forget that rescue tools are as dangerous for the users to operate as they are a potential danger to a victim.