Phone: (860) 509-8000 Fax: (860) 509-7184 VP: (860) 899-1611
410 Capitol Avenue, P.O. Box 340308
Hartford, Connecticut 06134-0308 www.ct.gov/dph
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer
Date: March 6, 2015
To: All Connecticut Licensed/Certified EMS Organizations
All Connecticut Sponsor Hospitals
From: Raphael M. Barishansky, M.P.H., M.S., CPM
Director, Office of Emergency Medical Services
Richard A. Kamin, MD, FACEP
Medical Director, Office of Emergency Medical Services
Re: Spinal Motion Restriction Guideline – UPDATED GUIDELINE
___________________________________________________________________________________
In October of 2014, the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) sent out notification of the
expansion of the scope of practice for EMS providers in Connecticut to include Spinal Motion
Restriction. Accompanying the memo was a guideline titled “Spinal Trauma.”
The Spinal Trauma Guideline is part of a larger project the Connecticut EMS Medical Advisory
Committee has taken up to develop statewide guidelines. The project is in its final phases and will be a
statewide ‘best practices’ approach to standardizing the practice of pre-hospital emergency care. The
guidelines will be a ‘living document’, one that will be regularly reviewed and updated. As pre-hospital
emergency care is ever-evolving, there will be times when a guideline will need to be revised in the
interim between regular reviews. These ‘Critical Updates’ will be communicated to EMS organizations
through the Everbridge notification system, and can be found on the OEMS website.
Attached to this memo is the updated Spinal Trauma Guideline, including a detailed description of the
changes. Please retain this version and discard any previous versions.
The Connecticut Office of Emergency Medical Services greatly appreciates the efforts of all our
partners in developing this initiative and in advancing prehospital care for the residents and visitors of
Connecticut.