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Cases from HEMS
A safe scene?
  1. Carl McQueen1,
  2. Karl Bexon2,
  3. Matthew Wyse3
  1. 1Academic Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, Pain and Resuscitation Research, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, UK
  2. 2HEMS Paramedic, The Air Ambulance Service, Derby, Derbyshire, UK
  3. 3HEMS Doctor/Clinical Lead, The Air Ambulance Service, Derby, Derbyshire, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Carl McQueen, Academic Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, Pain and Resuscitation Research, MIDRU Building, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham R9 5SS, UK; carl_mcqueen{at}hotmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2013-202823

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    Introduction

    Safety of personnel and patients is of paramount importance in prehospital environments. Establishment and maintenance of scene safety should be the first action of emergency personnel on arrival at incidents. Scene management is usually multidisciplinary, with personnel from agencies including the Police and Fire Rescue Services contributing to establishing a safe working environment. This case illustrates the challenges that can be faced by prehospital teams arriving at the scene as the first emergency services resource and the importance of an innovative and adaptable approach to scene management in such cases.

    Case notes

    The prehospital team was called to reports of a motorcyclist who had been injured in an accident on a motorway slip road. Other road users had witnessed the accident and had called the emergency services. One caller had identified herself as an off-duty doctor and described the patient's condition to the call handler as ‘time critical’. The incident had occurred at one junction south-bound from the air ambulance base at East Midlands Airport. At the time of the …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors CMcQ prepared the manuscript. KB and MW reviewed the manuscript prior to submission.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.