RE: [Paddlewise] PFD knife or hook?

From: Jim <jimtibensky_at_fastmail.fm>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:14:30 -0500
Published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine:

Trauma Scissors vs. the Rescue Hook, Exposing a Simulated Patient: A
Pilot Study

Timothy R. Hurtado, DO, FACEP, Chris Montoya, MPAS, PA-C

Received 19 February 2007; accepted 8 June 2007. published online 03
January 2008.

Abstract 

The objective of this study was to compare the exposure times using
trauma scissors vs. the rescue hook on a simulated patient. This was a
prospectively randomized, parallel group comparison study with two arms.
The control group used trauma scissors (15 cycles), and the intervention
group used rescue hooks (15 cycles). The uniform and footwear were
standardized for each cycle. Ten participants were trained on each
instrument. For each cycle, four participants were randomly chosen, and
the use of either instrument was randomized. Each participant was then
queried about their preferences for either instrument and why. The
rescue hook's mean time of exposure was 24 s with a SD of 7 s and a 95%
confidence interval (CI) of 20b28 s. The trauma scissors' mean exposure
time was 42 s with a SD of 5 s and a 95% CI of 39b45 s. The mean
difference was 18 s, with a 95% CI of 13b23 s. On average, the rescue
hook was 43% faster. Nine of 10 participants preferred the rescue hook,
stating that it was faster, easier, smaller, and more durable. The
rescue hook was found to be faster than trauma scissors when exposing a
simulated patient, and it was the instrument preferred by the majority
of participants.


Jim Tibensky
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Received on Thu Aug 12 2010 - 06:14:37 PDT

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