We recognize that there is a very small risk of not identifying a missed fracture but feel that this approach is pragmatic and feasible. b) Number of serious adverse outcomes, i.e. development of neurological deficit after c-spine clearance by the paramedics. This very unlikely subset of missed cervical spine injury cases will be determined from review of the patient records. We will monitor for the extremely rare occurrence of motor weakness and disability that develops after paramedic assessment but do not expect this to occur. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Measures of clinical impact (primary study outcomes) a) Proportion of low-risk patients transported

without immobilization, i.e. proportion of eligible trauma patients who are not immobilized by paramedics. Daily EMS patient census logs will be reviewed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to identify potential neck injury patients and then ED patient Selleckchem OTX015 records (including ambulance call reports, nursing notes, and physician notes) will be assessed to determine eligibility. All eligible patients assessed by participating paramedics will be considered for the denominator of this measure. We will also report the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical number of eligible patients not assessed. b) Lengths of time, i.e. time spent in the field before transport, time

from ED arrival to transfer of patient care to ED staff; and total patient length of stay in the ED. These times will be compared, for those patients transported with and without spinal

immobilization as part of the evaluation phase of this study, to those transported with immobilization Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (100% cases) during the validation study at the Ottawa site. We will only measure times for those patients who are assessed and enrolled by the paramedics. Performance of the Canadian C-Spine Rule (secondary study outcomes) The rule will be evaluated during the run-in and evaluation periods for all enrolled cases with completed Paramedic Data Forms. a) Accuracy of the rule, i.e. sensitivity and specificity for identifying clinically important cervical spine Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical injuries. b) Paramedic accuracy in overall interpretation of the rule (immobilization required versus no immobilization required) will be determined by comparing the paramedics’ response on the data collection form to the ‘gold standard’ interpretation of the rule made by the Investigators’ Steering Committee. Attention Ketanserin will be focused on fractures missed or potentially missed by paramedic misinterpretation. c) Paramedic agreement and comfort with and use of the rule. Paramedics, on the data collection form, will be asked to indicate their comfort in following the rule for each specific patient, using a five-point Likert scale. If the paramedic decides not to follow the rule, they will be asked to indicate reasons for their decision and if they recommend that additional follow-up and clarification from the study champion would be helpful.