Helmet markings

My RN/gf a.k.a. HMO (Health Maintenance Ole’lady) asked some questions I supplied of one of the ER RNs she works with.

The premise was: Assuming a race driver/rider comes in unconscious and is wearing a helmet . . . (In hindsight I should have added that no family member was available in my scenario).

Q. Would they want the helmet to remain on until ER could assess and safely remove it?
A. Yes they would want the helmet on, unless they needed to be intubated prior to arrival at the hospital.

Q. Would ER docs believe and use info on driver's helmet? Typically the info has been last tetanus, medical conditions, known allergies.
A. Not necessarily - they do not know if the helmet belongs to the person wearing it. Blood type they prefer to do when patient arrives.

Q. Would info in the form of a recent Physical Exam be useful? Would it be used? (Exams are required by SCCA on a bi-annual ISH basis)
A. Maybe, but they most likely were healthy or they wouldn't be racing, and if they have Hypertension or such- that may or may not be an issue while they are being treated for the accident issues.

Q. What info besides tetanus, medical conditions, allergies could be helpful?
A. Most information would come from family or others at their side. But if pt is unconscious with no one around they would treat the best they could with what they know and proceed as if the patient has NKDA No Known Drug Allergies. If they can't get a hold of anyone.. they have to treat the patient.
 
sccamedical":37hcxczr said:
A couple of quick points from a 25yr vetern of street and track EMS-

We always want the helmet to be transported with a driver, it provides valuable information, we do the samething with motorcycle riders on the street,

"Med tags" are used and the information treated as correct, usually since the EMS crew will verify that it belongs to the injured driver. We use the same tags for SWAT teams, Fire Dept members etc... and use the info.

The info on the tag will not be held as gospel but will be used not to do something wrong (give you a drug you have an allergy to or as mentioned give you a MRI with metal in your eye).

If you use one please keep it up to date.

Finally, SCCA might be considered a covered entity as we provide a company health insurance plan to all members, SCCA does insure every driver, volunteer and member.
Click to expand...

Good input. As the devil is in the details I have some questions.

Given that the “Med tag” info is usually treated as correct by the EMS crew, why doesn’t SCCA require them? Seems like there is a gap in the system.

Yes, given that SCCA provides an accident (health?) insurance plan then they may be considered a covered entity. However, since the plan is via a couple of entities my question then is, does SCCA hold any data?

Does an SCCA EMS person act as a Liaison (in lieu of family availability) for SCCA drivers similarly to the NASCAR example stated earlier?.

Thank you for joining in.

Larry
 
In 2007 when I became friends with he wall at Topeka and got a visit to the ER it was free. I had a high dedutcable and SCCA ins. paid all costs even though they were within my deductable. Now that I am on the Federal dole (Medicare) i don't know how it would work but suspect the feds would be paying.
 
Arrrrgh -

SCCA National is almost certainly not a HIPAA covered entity, and more to the point, an SCCA local region, which is a separate legal entity, is CERTAINLY NOT a HIPAA covered entity. Similarly, a business that provides health insurance benefits for its employees by purchasing health insurance policies for them is not thereby "a health insurance company".

Anyone who disagrees - read Larry's link.

I get irked when all sorts of monkey motion (or lack of desirable action) happens due to some dimly understood and totally irrelevant set of rules that are intended for something totally different.
 
TED HEINRITZ":23p1z9pt said:
Method of any medical info should be at National level, we should all do the same thing.
Click to expand...
YES, I completely agree.

TED HEINRITZ":23p1z9pt said:
They could assume you have a barrowed helmet, they sent along the helmet to show any helmet damage, to help determine head trama, but any other critical info, are they 100% sure it's his helmet. Just because its the one he was using.
Click to expand...
If a borrowed helmet isn’t corrected with the borrower’s info then that is just stupid (knowing better and acting foolishly anyway). Stupid is difficult to regulate.

L
 
You are right the "national" is not a covered entity, but does the Region on the local level have an infield care center? provide ambulance services on track? who pays for these and is the region providing healthcare? The legal advice we have gotten in the past is that we might be, so why take a chance and risk the fines for a violation.

The standard of care in any accident is to remove the helmet. The injuried person can not be secured to a board or a c-collar applied with the helmet in place. The helmet must be removed to maintain the spine in a straight and neutral position and keep any further damage to the neck and back. That is why most professional racing sanctioning bodies are now requiring a helmet removal systems like http://www.ejectsafety.com/home.html.
 
Here the region contracts with the track for those services. EMT/Paramedics are employees of the track not the region.
 
Just a stupid question here, but how many people borrow helmets? ewwwww.


If there's room inside the medical packet, I'd suggest attaching a small picture of the driver to the medical information. for a medical person questioning if the info belongs to the driver, the photo and the SCCA member card I keep hanging around my neck provides pretty instant verification if the names and photos match the injured..
 
When Chris hit the wall in Topeka, they removed his helmet to put on a collar. Carefully.

This discussion reminds me that I need to order him a medic alert tag.
 
Where do you get them? i was told last year they would be available at MSR but they didn't have any.
 
Rob, i will have one for you. I am running the #7 EP caterham and will also be the operating steward for the race. Look for the Over fifty moptorsport garage on friday or come up to the tower where race control is and i will see you get it.
Larry Svaton
 
Randy Canfield":15mxladi said:
Many of us do not realize that the SCCA coverage, while generous, is secondary coverage, becoming primary only if the subject is otherwise uninsured. And it is accident coverage only. At one time our insurance was primary and, we were told, covered anything at the track.

http://www.scca.com/assets/2012%20Comme ... ummary.pdf
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info Randy, I didn't know there was any coverage.

I'm not sure the coverage for a Club incident would cover much (only $10k). I recently visited the ER for a cut which needed only 3 stiches. The bill came to just short of $2500.00.

L
 
Al Seim":fb9aqbyt said:
Arrrrgh -

SCCA National is almost certainly not a HIPAA covered entity, and more to the point, an SCCA local region, which is a separate legal entity, is CERTAINLY NOT a HIPAA covered entity. Similarly, a business that provides health insurance benefits for its employees by purchasing health insurance policies for them is not thereby "a health insurance company".

Anyone who disagrees - read Larry's link.

I get irked when all sorts of monkey motion (or lack of desirable action) happens due to some dimly understood and totally irrelevant set of rules that are intended for something totally different.
Click to expand...

Relax Al, don’t go getting yourself an aneurysm, it’s not covered by SCCA’s insurance J

Far as the regions are concerned, in AZ there are 2 (AZ & AZ Border), one is a legal entity (non-profit corp). AZ Border is not shown in the state’s site. Not sure why, could be error or oversight, or . . . An interesting thing I found was, someone other than SCCA has SCCA, LLC.

In my work I often deal with people who believe they understand laws but don’t, even people who work within them don’t always understand. No big deal really it keeps me busy. IMHO, part of the fault lies with the lawmakers. With most laws and regulations the devil is in the details.

L
 
sccamedical":1evande9 said:
You are right the "national" is not a covered entity, but does the Region on the local level have an infield care center? provide ambulance services on track? who pays for these and is the region providing healthcare? The legal advice we have gotten in the past is that we might be, so why take a chance and risk the fines for a violation.
Click to expand...

The other side of that risk equation is, what if a driver is further harmed because the helmet info was not available. SCCA already requires driver’s medical history via the Physical Exam requirement. There is more potential liability there than requiring a small amount (and possibly critical to the ER treatment of a driver) of info the helmet would require (allergy & other med condition).

Remember, the law is there to keep the patient’s medical info protected. The helmet info is difficult for the club to mishandle because it is only available in case of an emergency. Until the emergency the helmet is in the possession of the driver, not the club. My guess is that fines would probably only apply if the info was mishandled.

L
 
Another stupid question- I'm good at those..
where would I go to find out my blood type? I spend a lot of time traveling to 3rd world countries, so I haven't been able to give blood for 10+ years and I've forgotten my blood type.
 
I figured as much.. I assume I can just have my local family doc test in their office and tell me, or does it take anything special they'd have to send off?
I remember in college the red cross tested us right there when we donated blood, but again I've been around too many scuzzy people to donate blood. I wasn't sure if a family doc kept that stuff on site or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top