The South African Professional Board for Emergency Care prehospital Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) recommends that emergency medical services (EMS) make use of the National Emergency X Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) rule and Canadian C-spine Rule (CCSR) when managing traumatic spinal injury. However, the safety and effectiveness of prehospital clinical spinal clearance or spinal motion restriction (SMR) decision support tools within poorly resourced settings are unclear. We conducted a scoping review on clinical spinal clearance and selective SMR decision support tools which aimed at identifying possible barriers to their implementation, safety, and effectiveness when used by EMS personnel. Studies were included if they described the use of clinical spinal clearance or SMR decision tools in first line management of blunt trauma patients by medical practitioners in the Emergency Department (ED) or by EMS personnel working in a prehospital setting. After screening, 42 documents fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Several selective SMR decision support tools have been implemented in the prehospital setting, the most common of which were those based on the NEXUS and the CCSR tools. Only one study evaluated the safety and efficacy of the NEXUS rule when used by EMS personnel. The limited prehospital literature available investigating either the NEXUS rule or CCSR therefore makes it difficult to determine its appropriateness for adoption and implementation by EMS personnel in other prehospital settings such as that of South Africa. Furthermore, commonly found prehospital NEXUS-based decision tools presented with unique challenges related to the subjective nature of some of the individual components of the decision tool. This leaves the decision tool open to interpretation by examiners and is especially relevant in settings, such as South Africa, where there are many different levels in scope of practices. This increases the risk of the patient being either under-triaged or over-triaged. More studies are therefore needed to definitively assess for the safety, efficacy and effectiveness of clinical spine clearance within the prehospital setting. It is believed that a selective SMR decision tool which has more specific instructions for the prehospital practitioner may be able to accommodate such challenges and is an area which needs further investigation.

Prehospital emergency care is facing a paradigm shift. Spinal motion restriction (SMR) is a way to treat trauma patients with symptoms of spinal injury. It was earlier entitled as ‘routine SMR’, and included spine board and cervical collar. During the 2000s, it has been noted that there is a lack of scientific evidence that proves the benefits with ‘routine SMR’. This led an expert group to the development of the national guidelines, that were published in 2019. The national guidelines can be described as ‘selective SMR’, where the cervical collar and spine board is excluded. It means that the SMR shall be adapted to the patient and not the equipment. Furthermore, the patient should be involved as much as possible in the treatment. This master thesis has been conducted at the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), in collaboration with AB Germa. The objective was to enable paramedics (the users in this project) to provide trauma patients with safe and efficient SMR by improving the usability of available or future products for SMR. Therefore, the project aim was to deliver a conceptual suggestion with feedback from the users. Furthermore, a mapping with experienced problems was delivered, and a review of the available medical devices with recommendations on how the future product development of medical devices for SMR could head in a user-centred direction. The theoretical framework included both ergonomics, including anthropometry and anatomy, and semiotics to involve both the physical and cognitive aspects of good usability, as a complement to the contextual immersion to be able to develop a thought through conceptual suggestion. The contextual immersion involved contact with Sweden’s 21 regions, and 16 paramedics. Through visits, interviews, and observations information was gathered about available medical devices for SMR, and challenges that paramedics are facing with them where mapped. This was compiled in a user need specification, which formed the basis for the idea generation. The ideation resulted in over 200 ideas. Iterative feedback sessions together with the users generated five concepts, that by further feedback, and iterative work converged into one final concept. The project delivers a vest with vacuum technology that enables paramedics to perform safe and efficient SMR of trauma patients with various anatomy. The concept has the flexibility of a KED and the adaptability of a vacuum mattress. It enables ’selective SMR’ in confined spaces, and facilitates the patient to be more involved in the treatment. The project has generated insights about ’selective SMR’, and the meaning of it for future product development. Generally, we are moving towards medical devices for SMR that does not restrict movement as strictly as before. Many products in ambulance care have not been updated for a long time, and there is no doubt that there is a need for it. / Inom prehospital akutsjukvård pågår just nu ett paradigmskifte. Spinal rörelsebegränsning (SRB) är ett sätt att vårda patienter som varit utsatta för trauma och som uppvisar symtom på spinal skada. Det benämndes till en början som ’rutinmässig SRB’ och inkluderade användning av spineboard och nackkrage. Under 2000-talet visade det sig finnas en avsaknad av vetenskapliga bevis som talade för fördelarna med ’rutinmässig SRB’, vilket ledde till att nackkrage och spineboard exkluderades. Det här föranledde en expertgrupp att ta fram nya nationella riktlinjer som publicerades 2019. De nationella riktlinjerna kan beskrivas som ’selektiv SRB’, vilket handlar om att SRB ska anpassas utifrån patientens tillstånd och inte efter utrustningen. Patienten ska även involveras så mycket som möjligt i omhändertagandet. Det här examensarbetet har utförts vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LTU), tillsammans med AB Germa. Syftet var att underlätta för ambulanssjukvårdare (användarna i det här projektet) att utföra säker och effektiv SRB på traumapatienter, genom att förbättra användbarheten hos befintliga eller framtida produkter för SRB. Målet var därför att leverera ett konceptuellt förslag med feedback från användarna. Utöver detta skulle en kartläggning av dagens utrustning och problem med dessa undersökas, med rekommendationer om hur den framtida utvecklingen kan gå mot en mer användarcentrerad riktning. För att få med de fysiska såväl som de kognitiva aspekterna av en god användbarhet så inkluderades både ergonomi, inkluderande antropometri och anatomi, samt semiotik i den teoretiska referensramen. Det här användes som ett komplement till den kontextuella undersökningen för att försäkra sig om att det framtagna konceptet var väl genomtänkt. Den kontextuella undersökningen inkluderade kontakt med Sveriges 21 regioner och 16 ambulanssjukvårdare. Genom besök, intervjuer och observationer samlades information om dagens utrustning för SRB, som utgjorde underlag för en kartläggning av de upplevda problemen. Allt sammanställdes som användarbehov i en lista. Det här kom att ligga till grund för den kommande idégenereingen, som resulterade i över 200 idéer. Iterativa feedbacksessioner tillsammans med användarna resulterade i fem koncept, som genom ännu mer feedback och iterativt arbete resulterade i ett slutgiltigt koncept. Projektet levererar en väst med vakuumteknologi som möjliggör för användarna att utföra säker och effektiv SRB på traumapatienter med varierande anatomi. Konceptet har smidigheten av en KED och följsamheten av en vakuummadrass. Den möjliggör ’selektiv SRB’ i trånga utrymmen och underlättar för patienten att vara deltagande i omhändertagandet. Projektet har också levererat insikter om vad ’selektiv SRB’ kan innebära för framtida produktutveckling. Det har visat sig att trenden går mot att utrustningen inte ska rörelsebegränsa lika mycket som den gjort tidigare. Många produkter inom ambulansen har inte uppdaterats på länge och det finns inga tvivel om att det finns ett behov för detta.