Nutbeam et al developed a simple tool for predicting the time to extricate victims at a road accident. The authors are from Demiford Hospital Plymouth, Shresbury and Telford Hospitals, West Midlands Fire Service and Keele University.
Patient selection: occupant of a car involved in a road accident
arbitrary base extrication time: 8 minutes
Conditions increasing the extrication time
Factor
Time
physical obstruction
+10 minutes
any patient physically trapped
+ 7 minutes
each patient medically trapped
(+10 minutes) * (number trapped)
Conditions reducing the extrication time
Factor
Time
rapid access
-7 minutes
car on roof
-12 minutes
where:
• Rapid access probably implies that there was no physical obstruction.
