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Choose Your Words Carefully
This is taken from http://lackawannaesu.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gendisc&acti..., Just wondering what everyone
s opinion.
We hear certain words and phrases everyday in this business. In fact, we probably hear them too often because they are commonly mis-used. I thought it might be fun to throw a few "snippets" out there and discuss them. Additional input is welcome.
"FULLY-INVOLVED" ... This one should be self-explanatory. This is not what you use to describe a building with just smoke showing or a vehicle with a fire just in the engine compartment. "Fully involved" means the entire things is on fire. I guess you could get away with saying something like "Division 1 is fully involved" if you really wanted to stretch it, but even that could get confusing.
"CONFINEMENT" vs. "ENTRAPMENT" ... If you're uninjured but can't get out of the vehicle, are you confined or entrapped? Most people will probably say confined but if you can't get out then aren't you also entrapped? Maybe it's time to stop saying entrapment and start describing this type of situation as "confinement" or "entanglement". If you just need help getting the door open, then I say you're confined. But, if you need to have the car cut away from around you, then you're probably entangled.
"FULL CODE" ... I love this one because it gets everyone's heart beating faster. The nursing home personnel throw this one around all the time. "Full code" does not necessarily mean the patient is in full arrest. More likely, it means that if they happen to go into full arrest while they're being transported to the hospital for their flu-like symptoms, then the EMS crew should probably try to save them. The opposite of "full code" is "do not resucitate (DNR)".
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DUST on
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As far as MVAs, I think it best to keep it simple.
Extrication = Remove the patient from the vehicle.
Disentaglemnet = Remove the vehicle from the patient.
Details can be given in plain English on the TAC channel.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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My favorite misuse of a term lately has been on wildfires. (We're in drought conditions.) An IC will advise dispatch that the fire is "out" and they "will be mopping up." In my opinion the fire is "under control" or "contained" until it is mopped up. Then after the fire is mopped up and there are no hot spots it is "out" or "extinguished." I'd hate to hear someone say their fire is out only to hear them say an hour later they're still mopping up.
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Permalink Reply by Marty Hrinko on
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There were alot of replies to this on the other forum...just seeing how far it can go...
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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It's not that simple:
Entrapment is simply a situation in which either access to the patient or the patient's egress from the vehicle is impeded. The most common entrapment is a simple door pop, in which access and egress can be created by a single evolution.
A Pin is a situation in which part of the patient's body is physically held in place by pressure between two or more pieces of wreckage or machinery.
An Entanglement is a situation in which part of the patient's body is wrapped up in someething - this can be wreckage, machinery, rope, wire, etc.
An Impalement is a situation where wreckage, machinery, or another object penetrates the patient's body and remains there.
Patients can also be Buried - covered with soil, loose vehicle cargo, or structural components.
Then there are Limited Access situations - patients who are stuck above grade, below grade, or in a confined space.
And Dust, Harvey Grant defined Extrication as removing the vehicle from the patient in 1975 in his book Vehicle Rescue, 1st Edition.
Extrication doesn't involve moving the patient, it involves moving the wreckage or machinery.
Rescue is freeing a person from a place of danger, or evil.
The NFPA technical rescue standards (1006 and 1670) both specify rescue as moving a person from a dangerous situation and extrication as removing machinery, wreckage, or other objects away from the patient.
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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And Dust, Harvey Grant defined Extrication as removing the vehicle from the patient in 1975 in his book Vehicle Rescue, 1st Edition.
Extrication doesn't involve moving the patient, it involves moving the wreckage or machinery.
I still have my copy and still refer to it! What a book....
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I have my copy as well. I was fortunate to know Harvey and his teaching/publishing partner, Jim Gargan, and to train with them often before their untimely deaths.
They were a lot of fun, too.
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Ron Moore's 1990 book Vehicle Rescue and Extrication is one of my favorites and I use the terms extrication and disentanglement as he does... but I would like to see if I can get a hold of the Harvey Grant book.
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Permalink Reply by Damo on
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Light smoke - is our big thing right now. There must be more description to go with that, as it could mean, weight or color. More info the better for sure.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Turnham on
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OK so Fully-Involved. As you said, the whole shooting-match is on fire, can't argue with that. Now Entrapment - Confinement ! Why would you use either? Entrapment means, to most people, being stitched-up by the police and Confinement is usually reserved for mothers about to give birth. What's wrong with good-old honest-to-god TRAPPED?
You can't get the only exit open, your trapped. Someone has to chop you out of a vehicle/room, your trapped. You are only Entangled if you are physically tangled up with some object,eg. "the woman is entangled in a blanket".
Don't complicate things, keep it simple, clear accurate communication with no ambiguity.
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Ron is a good instructor and author, but the terms were defined 15 years before Ron wrote his first edition.
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