First Aid – Head, Neck, Back, and Spine Injuries
Injuries to the head, neck, back, or spine can be especially dangerous because they can involve damage to the brain or spine, leading to death or permanent paralysis. This course describes the potential severity of these injuries, lists some tips for recognizing potentially serious injuries to the head, neck, back, or spine, and provides first aid tips for these situations.
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Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain why injuries to the head, neck, back, or spine must be treated with extra caution
- List some signs and symptoms of an injury to the head, neck, back, or spine
- Explain the importance of summoning emergency medical care
- List the first aid steps for head, neck, back, or spine injuries, including what not to do
Specs
| Course Level | Intermediate |
| Languages | English |
| Compatibility | Audio, Video |
| Based on: | Industry Standards and Best Practices |
Key Questions
Why are injuries to the head, neck, back, or spine especially dangerous?
Because these injuries may cause damage to the brain or spinal cord, which can lead to death or permanent paralysis.
When should you move someone whom you suspect has suffered a serious injury to the head, neck, back, or spine?
You should make every effort to not move a person with an injury like this, and in fact should do what’s possible to prevent the person from moving. You should only move the person if not doing so might cause the person to die (for example, in a fire).
When should you summon emergency medical assistance if someone has suffered a severe injury to the head, neck, back, or spine?
You should do this in all cases and as quickly as possible.
Sample Video Transcript
What would you do if someone at work suffered an injury to his or her head, neck, back, or spine? When a person is injured in one or more of these areas, you have to take special care, even when trying to help him or her. If you don’t, you can cause even more damage. The reasons that injuries to the head, neck, back, and spine must be treated with extra care is that they may involve the brain or the spinal column, which encases the long cord of nerves that runs down the back. These are critical to life and normal life functions and they’re also easy to injure. You’ll learn more about this in this course.
Additional Resources
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s Spinal Code Injury – http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sci/sci.htm
- United Spinal Association – http://www.spinalcord.org/
- WebMD – www.webmd.com
- WebMD Spinal Cord Injuries – http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/pain-management-spinal-cord-injury-medref
- WebMD Spinal Cord Injury First Aid – http://www.webmd.com/first-aid/tc/first-aid-for-a-spinal-injury-topic-overview
- MedLine Plus Spinal Cord Injuries – https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spinalcordinjuries.html
- Mayo Clinic Spinal Cord Injury First Aid – http://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-spinal-injury/basics/art-20056677
Course Applies To
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