The second thing it's going to do is, by talking to them, you know they're okay. First of all, it's going to help the person kind of calm down and know that there's someone there who's going to help them out. This is going to accomplish a couple of things. Probably the best thing you can do for anyone at an accident is to talk to them. If it's something where I can wait for the ambulance to get there, it's better to wait and let them immobilize their spine and make sure everything's in the right position so we're not making things worse. Again, I always have to be careful about their spine. If it's something where there's imminent danger but I can get them out of the way safely, I'm going to help them get out of that car. If it's something where we can wait for the medics to get there, great. Let's say I come up to that car that's rolled over, the biggest thing I'm going to do is, number one, if that person's still inside their car, I'm going to go up to it and say, "Is this person safe in there? Can they get out of their car? What do I need to do to help them?" So let's kind of walk through them, what you would do. Don't be dragging people around and pulling them out, potentially making things worse with some sort of spine fracture if that's not something you need to do and if you've got time to get an ambulance there. The next biggest piece of advice is something we always think about as physicians, and that is, "Do no harm." If this is not something that is absolutely necessary to do, don't do it. You want to make sure everyone's safe, but keep yourself safe. If there's a fire or anything like that, obviously, you want to help victims. Don't put yourself in a situation where you are going to become a second victim in this accident. A little bit of information goes a long way when talking to them.īut then the next question becomes, "What do I do while I'm waiting for the ambulance to get there?" The biggest piece of advice I would give is, number one, first of all, make sure you're safe. If we've got a ten-car pileup, they're going to need to send a whole lot more than if it's a single car rollover and one person who got out of the car and walking around now and looks okay. If it's a multi-car accident, at least give them some information to work with so they know how much to send there in terms of resources. When you call 911, it's very helpful to let them know, obviously, where you are, kind of what's going on, how many people seem to be involved in the accident. Get an ambulance there because they're the experts in this situation. The number one thing, of course, is get help. This is some harm in trying to do too much at these sorts of scenes. You know, I'm used to seeing people in the ER who are brought in by the medics.īut when you're at the scene of an accident, it's a whole different situation there, and it's good to know what do I do, number one, to help this person, but more importantly, what do I do not to hurt this person. I think we've all had situations where we come upon a scene of an accident, and the big question we have is, "What do I do in this situation?" That's the question that ran through my mind in that scenario. This is about 5 miles later, and I see that same car overturned on the side of the road. Troy Madsen: So I'm driving into work the other day, and this person just goes flying past me 90 miles an hour, going down Interstate 80. Man: Medical news and research from the University of Utah physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. That's what we're going to talk about today on The Scope. Troy Madsen, emergency physician at the University of Utah Hospital. Troy Madsen: You're driving down the interstate.
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