The management of patients with spinal cord injury.

Few diseases or injuries have greater potential for causing death or having a devastating impact on a person's quality of life than cervical spine trauma. All patients admitted to hospital after significant trauma must therefore be assumed to have a potentially unstable spinal fracture until it is proven otherwise, to prevent their sustaining further injury owing to inappropriate management. It is vital that nurses are familiar with the signs and symptoms of such injuries and aware of the appropriate management techniques.