Death by Rescue: Managing Crush Injuries

The most important component of Technical Rescue is the rescue. Rescue implies the removal of a LIVE victim, which can only be accomplished with a built-in, comprehensive medical program. In many cases, lack of a medical component and prompt, advanced patient care will result in adverse effects and/or death. While all programs stress the highly technical component of scene stabilization and victim disentanglement, only some programs also stress the vital patient care and packaging needed to maximize patient outcome. This course will focus on “bridging the gap” between Rescue and Medical in complex technical rescue situations to avoid the proverbial “death by rescue.”