EM Cases · Cervical spine injury
C-spine clearance after trauma — resus station
ACEM Fellowship station testing NEXUS/Canadian rules, CT pathway, and airway with MILS.
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Study tools
Target exams
ACEMFRCEMABEMFRCPCCCFPEMEBEEM
Prompt
An alert trauma patient with neck pain after a high-speed MVC; decision on imaging and collar.
Station brief
Format. Clinical-management (resus) station, 11 minutes total — 4 minutes reading, 7 minutes active assessment. You are the Emergency Medicine consultant leading care.
Candidate instructions. Manage the patient from handover. State actions and reasoning aloud. The examiner plays the nursing and specialty team. [2]
References2ShowHide
- [1]Hoffman JR et al. Validity of a set of clinical criteria to rule out injury to the cervical spine (NEXUS). NEJM, 2000.PMID 10891516
- [2]Stiell IG, Wells GA, Vandemheen KL, et al. The Canadian C-spine rule for radiography in alert and stable trauma patients. JAMA, 2001.PMID 11597285