Emergency Action Plan

An athlete goes down, they are hurt and not getting back up.  What do you do?

Well no matter if you are an Athletic Therapist/Trainer or coach the most important thing that you have already done is have your Emergency Action Plan (EAP).  The EAP is simply the plan that you as an association, club or team have set out in case an emergent situation may occur.  It is important to remember that not all emergent situations may be an injury.  An athlete may have a medical episode as well as someone in the stands.

It is really simple to think that if an emergency does occur everything will fall into place and there will be no complications.  However during an emergent situation, there is chaos.  No matter the level, no matter the expertise of the medical staff or coaching staff, everything going on is chaos.  If you check back to any of the videos from the post Athletic Therapists/Trainers in Action  even though all the ATs are working in the professional ranks, what goes on around them is chaos.  The biggest thing to notice is that it is organized chaos.  Each person knew their role and that by completing their role, that was what would guarantee the athlete getting the best, quickest care possible.

It is very important to note that if as a coach you are unable to have an Athletic Therapist on staff you still need to have an EAP and may find it more important as you will be taking control and charge of the situation.  You as a coach need to have this written plan that you share with your coaching staff and inform your parent group that you have one.  This will help with efficiency in care and will ease any concerns that your parent group will have in case something were to happen to their child.

So what makes up a good EAP.  There are three major roles.  Charge Person, Call Person, Control Person.  The focus will be on if you do not have an AT on staff and will be managing the emergency as a member of the coaching staff.  Time is of the essence during an emergency, so making sure that everyone knows what to do is very important.

The Charge Person's only concern is the care of the injured athlete.  They are to decide whether or not further care is needed beyond what they are trained to do.  This can include finding someone more qualified in the stands and activating EMS.  It is recommended that this person does possess some level of first aid and CPR training that way they have the knowledge base to know if more care is needed and can do some basic interventions.

The Call Person has at times the most simple job, they need to discuss with the charge person what the extent of the players injury is and if they want EMS contacted.  Never rely on a cell phone during this time as depending on the location service may be intermittent.  The call person should know the location of a land line or pay phone at the venue and have the address for each.  They should also know the best location for the ambulance to come to to ensure adequate access, the closer the ambulance can get to the playing field can at times be critical.

The Control Person can be likened to the bouncer.  They must ensure only the people needed to help with the emergency have access to the athlete.  As much as spectators and parents feel they will be of assistance, the more bodies in the way can impede the care of the injured athlete.

So how does all this start.  Once the charge person enters either the competitive surface, both the call and control person need to be at the ready.  A simple set of easily identifiable signals can get the ball rolling.  You can choose which signals work best for you and your EAP team, but some standard rules should apply.  The signal for activating EMS should be one handed, as your other hand could be stabilizing the head and neck.  All signals should be large ie. arm straight up in the air, hand on the head ect.  That way someone on the sidelines or stands can easily distinguish what is going on.  You can have a signal not only to activate EMS, but to ask for assistance from the sidelines.

Depending on the EAP sample you look at, it can be either the call person or control persons job to talk to the facility staff.  The facility staff are a huge asset during this time.  They know the layout of the venue and will assist in ensuring the ambulance can get to the athlete quickly and uninhibited.  You can also decide who will retrieve the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), it can be the call or control person or you can designate someone who's job is solely to do that.  As soon as the charge person shows the need to activate EMS the AED needs to be retrieved.

Use the officials of the game or event, they can help greatly in dealing with crowd control including the other team.  Once they charge person has decided that EMS needs to be activated they can assist the control person and facility staff in ensuring quick access to the athlete.

Time is of the essence during an emergency, be it your athlete or a spectator or even an athlete from another team, you want to ensure they get the quickest access to advanced medical care.  In rural areas your average time for an ambulance to arrive can be upwards of half an hour, even in the city you may be looking at a wait of ten minutes or more.  The sooner that you as the charge person decide that is what is needed, the sooner that ambulance is on its way.  Never assume that someone else more qualified will be there to make that determination and know that unlike professional sports Paramedics are not waiting in the wings to take over.  A well organized EAP runs smoothly like a well choreographed dance, each person moves independently of each other but all working towards the same goal.  This goal is the safety of the athletes and having an EAP is one of the first steps in ensuring that for them.

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