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Referencing the content of EMT-Basic training and emergency patient care

EMT Basic · Chapter 39

Vehicle Extrication and Special Rescue

Learning objectives (10)

  1. Define the terms extrication and entrapment — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  2. Describe examples of situations that would require special technical rescue teams and the EMT’s role in these situations — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  3. Describe examples of vehicle safety components that may be hazardous to both EMTs and patients following a collision and how to mitigate their dangers — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  4. Describe the 10 phases of vehicle extrication and the role of the EMT during each one — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  5. Describe the special precautions the EMT should follow to protect the patient during a vehicle extrication — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  6. Discuss how to ensure safety at the scene of a rescue incident, including scene size-up and the selection of the proper personal protective equipment and additional necessary gear — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  7. Discuss patient care considerations related to assisting with rapid extrication, providing emergency care to a trapped patient, and removing and transferring a patient — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  8. Explain the difference between simple access and complex access in vehicle extrication — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  9. Explain the different factors that must be considered before attempting to gain access to the patient during an incident that requires extrication — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.
  10. Explain the responsibilities of an EMT in patient rescue and vehicle extrication — Knowledge/skills objective (printed page 1463); confirm wording in your course copy.

Vocabulary (12)

Extrication
The process of safely removing a patient from a vehicle, structure, or other entrapment.
Simple access
Reaching a patient without specialized tools — opening unlocked doors, lowering windows, or using existing openings.
Complex access
Reaching a patient requires tools or specialty teams — hydraulic equipment, cribbing, or technical rescue resources.
Cribbing
Interlocking wood or composite blocks used to stabilize vehicles or heavy objects during rescue operations.
Step chocks
Stair-stepped cribbing pieces used to wedge under a vehicle's frame to limit movement.
Hydraulic spreader
The hydraulic 'jaws of life' tool used to force apart vehicle components — doors, posts, frames — during extrication.
Hydraulic cutter
A hydraulic shear used to cut through vehicle posts, body panels, or steering columns.
Vehicle stabilization
Securing a vehicle against unwanted movement before personnel access the interior or work around the vehicle.
Rapid extrication
Expedited removal of a patient when the scene is unsafe, the patient is unstable, or rapid movement is otherwise indicated despite injury risk.
Technical rescue
Specialized rescue disciplines requiring advanced training and equipment — confined space, swift water, high angle, trench, and structural collapse.
SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus)
Portable breathing equipment worn by rescuers to supply respirable air in toxic or oxygen-deficient atmospheres.
Inner / outer circle
Two organizational zones around a rescue scene — the inner circle (active rescuers) and outer circle (support personnel and equipment staging).

Sequence practice (2 puzzles on Quiz Me)

Order of extrication priorities

Order the EMT and rescue team priorities at a vehicle extrication.

  1. Scene safety — traffic, fire risk, hazards, downed lines
  2. Stabilize the vehicle to prevent movement
  3. Gain access (simple before complex)
  4. Perform primary assessment in the vehicle when possible
  5. Disentangle obstacles around the patient
  6. Remove the patient with appropriate immobilization
  7. Continued assessment, treatment, and transport
Attempting simple access first

Order the simple access checks before escalating to tools.

  1. Try every door handle on the vehicle
  2. Ask occupants inside (if conscious) to unlock the doors
  3. Roll down or carefully break a window in a non-occupant area
  4. Reach in and manually unlock the doors
  5. Escalate to hydraulic tools only if simple access fails

Quick fire sample (12 of 12 on Quiz Me)

The process of safely removing a patient from a vehicle, structure, or other entrapment.
  1. Complex access
  2. Hydraulic spreader
  3. Extrication
  4. Rapid extrication
Reaching a patient without specialized tools — opening unlocked doors, lowering windows, or using existing openings.
  1. Extrication
  2. Hydraulic cutter
  3. Simple access
  4. SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus)
Reaching a patient requires tools or specialty teams — hydraulic equipment, cribbing, or technical rescue resources.
  1. Rapid extrication
  2. Complex access
  3. Inner / outer circle
  4. Vehicle stabilization
Interlocking wood or composite blocks used to stabilize vehicles or heavy objects during rescue operations.
  1. Cribbing
  2. Simple access
  3. Hydraulic cutter
  4. Vehicle stabilization
Stair-stepped cribbing pieces used to wedge under a vehicle's frame to limit movement.
  1. Step chocks
  2. Cribbing
  3. Rapid extrication
  4. Simple access
The hydraulic 'jaws of life' tool used to force apart vehicle components — doors, posts, frames — during extrication.
  1. Cribbing
  2. Step chocks
  3. Hydraulic spreader
  4. Complex access
A hydraulic shear used to cut through vehicle posts, body panels, or steering columns.
  1. Extrication
  2. Cribbing
  3. Hydraulic spreader
  4. Hydraulic cutter
Securing a vehicle against unwanted movement before personnel access the interior or work around the vehicle.
  1. Vehicle stabilization
  2. Hydraulic spreader
  3. Complex access
  4. Simple access
Expedited removal of a patient when the scene is unsafe, the patient is unstable, or rapid movement is otherwise indicated despite injury risk.
  1. Hydraulic spreader
  2. Cribbing
  3. Step chocks
  4. Rapid extrication
Specialized rescue disciplines requiring advanced training and equipment — confined space, swift water, high angle, trench, and structural collapse.
  1. Vehicle stabilization
  2. Inner / outer circle
  3. Technical rescue
  4. Complex access
Portable breathing equipment worn by rescuers to supply respirable air in toxic or oxygen-deficient atmospheres.
  1. Hydraulic cutter
  2. Hydraulic spreader
  3. SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus)
  4. Inner / outer circle
Two organizational zones around a rescue scene — the inner circle (active rescuers) and outer circle (support personnel and equipment staging).
  1. Simple access
  2. Complex access
  3. Inner / outer circle
  4. Vehicle stabilization

Some topics in this course differ across field references. See when sources disagree on Quiz Me before you teach from this sheet alone.

Full scored drills are on Quiz Me at /courses/nm-emt-b/chapters/39/print/. Answers are not marked on this sheet.