Pre-Hospital C-Spine Validation Rule Study

Prehospital C-Spine Update
Paramedics will be enrolling the last patients into the Prehospital C-Spine Study on Friday, June 30. While we have not reached our target of 8000 cases, we do have a sufficient amount of data for analysis. Stay tuned and check our web site for study updates!

Introduction:
The Canadian C-Spine Rule was designed to allow physicians to clear the cervical spine in a few minutes by means of simple questions and assessment. Many believe that this rule could be easily adapted for use by EMS personnel at the scene. A sample size of 8000 eligible alert and stable trauma patients will be collected. This sample size will provide us with approximately 120 cases with a primary outcome of acute cervical spine injury (any fracture, dislocation or ligamentous instability shown on any x-ray investigation). The validation study is now underway! The study is ongoing in four Ontario sites including Windsor, Sarnia, Ottawa and Mississauga. Two additional sites, Nova Scotia and Calgary are now participating.

We have included copies of approval letters as well as the protocol and Canadian C-Spine Rule Figure, to be used for reference purposes. The "self-running" training presentation may be used by the Paramedics as a "refresher course". Look for copies of the study newsletter too, to keep up to date. If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact the Study Coordinator at tbeaudoin@ohri.ca

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Study Documents for Download:

Comming soon.

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Ottawa Team:

Dr. Ian Stiell
Principal Investigator

Dr. George Wells
Co-Investigator

Dr. Christian Vaillancourt
Principal Investigator

Tammy Beaudoin
Study Coordinator

France Lavergne
Research Assistant

Erica Battram
Research Assistant

Julie Cummins
Research Assistant

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Partners:

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