The evolution of vehicle extrication

摘要

Vehicle design changes such as high-strength super steels, impenetrable occupant compartments, complex restraint systems, and alternative fuels create survivable spaces for patients in collisions that would have otherwise been a recovery operation. The changing population of drivers leads to encounters with drivers that are older, obese, or living with complex medical conditions that impact chances for survival. Advances in the availability and types of rescue tools have also led to a re-evaluation of the approach to vehicle extrication. When the term the 'Golden Hour' was first introduced in 1961 by R. Adams Cowley, rescue services tended to believe that it referred to the period from arriving on the scene to putting the casualty in the ambulance, rather than 'crash to knife' time. The concept of the 'Platinum Ten Minutes' was then proposed as an ideal for the on scene time, as it was realised that time had to be allowed for transit and emergency department assessment.