Resuscitation
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Guidelines for the management of suspected spinal injury patients from the scene of their accident to the emergency department were published in September 1998. This study was commissioned on behalf of the Faculty of Pre-hospital Care at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, to examine the handling of patients on spinal boards on arrival in the emergency department. ⋯ It is suggested that as the spine board is such a widely used piece of equipment, there should be some guidelines to standardise its use at the emergency department interface with pre-hospital care. We recommend that spinal board removal should be part of the completion of the primary survey.