This episode of PDACast.

It is a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.

This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of a nationwide children's hospital.

We're in Columbus, Ohio.

It's episode 564.

We're calling this one P-Carn prediction rule for pediatric cervical spine injuries.

We want to welcome all of you to the program.

I know that was a lot of words that some of you may or may not be familiar with, but we're

going to break everything down as we usually do on this podcast.

First, you know, it is a familiar scene. A child or teenagers

injured. EMS arrives and they place a rigid neck collar to protect the bones in the neck. So,

you know what I'm talking about. It's the cervical collar that goes around the neck to protect it so

you don't move your neck in case there is an injury. And if you've ever taken a first aid class, you know we try to

keep the neck still when someone has a traumatic injury that potentially involves the head

or cervical spine. And cervical spine is just a fancy way of saying the bones in the neck.

So our patient is rushed to the hospital and before their cervical collar is removed and their neck examined, they are likely

to get x-rays of their neck or their cervical spine just in case there is a problem. But do all

children with a traumatic injury and a cervical collar placed in the

pre-hospital setting, do all of them really need x-rays of their neck? Now, as you know, x-rays

result in radiation exposure. Cat scans do as well. And they also prolong the period of time

the child wears the collar, which can be uncomfortable

and pretty scary for kids.

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