Cervical spine injuries are caused by a number of things. This includes gunshot wounds, car accidents, diving accidents, landing on the head because of a sports injury, falls from a great height, electric shock and other traumatic injuries (Dahlquist, Fischer, Desai, Rogers, Christmas, Gibbs, & Sing, 2015). There have not been any recent studies on how common spinal injuries are, but according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (2012), there are approximately 12,000 new cases each year. When caring for patients with a possible cervical spine injury it is critical that the technologists doing their CT scan ensure they take proper care of the patient. When moving them from the stretcher or backboard to the table one person
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For patients with altered mental status or the indications that were listed previously, it is recommended that they have a CT scan. However, for patients who have a lower-risk, it may not be necessary due to the negative consequences such as cost and radiation exposure (Jacobson, 2014). The National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) criteria is used to determine whether or not cervical spine imagining is needed. NEXUS criteria include cervical spine tenderness, neurological deficits, altered mental status, evidence of intoxication, and a painful distracting injury. When using the NEXUS criteria it is important to differentiate the most serious injuries from the distracting injuries, although distracting injuries could indicate there are more serious injuries as well. In a recent study (Dahlquist, 2015), there were 566 patients that were evaluated using the NEXUS criteria. Of the 566 patients that were evaluated 241 of them had positive NEXUS findings with a distracting injury and 325 had femur fractures who were NEXUS negative only two of them had cervical spine injuries (Dahlquist, et al., 2015). Using different criteria in order to determine whether a patient needs to have a CT scan will help decrease the patient dose to radiation as well as cut down on their medical
For patients with altered mental status or the indications that were listed previously, it is recommended that they have a CT scan. However, for patients who have a lower-risk, it may not be necessary due to the negative consequences such as cost and radiation exposure (Jacobson, 2014). The National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) criteria is used to determine whether or not cervical spine imagining is needed. NEXUS criteria include cervical spine tenderness, neurological deficits, altered mental status, evidence of intoxication, and a painful distracting injury. When using the NEXUS criteria it is important to differentiate the most serious injuries from the distracting injuries, although distracting injuries could indicate there are more serious injuries as well. In a recent study (Dahlquist, 2015), there were 566 patients that were evaluated using the NEXUS criteria. Of the 566 patients that were evaluated 241 of them had positive NEXUS findings with a distracting injury and 325 had femur fractures who were NEXUS negative only two of them had cervical spine injuries (Dahlquist, et al., 2015). Using different criteria in order to determine whether a patient needs to have a CT scan will help decrease the patient dose to radiation as well as cut down on their medical