Medical Care in a Police Intervention with Conducted Electrical Weapons: Zaragoza (Spain) Fire Department Protocol

• Published in: Prehospital and disaster medicine Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 639 - 644
• Main Authors: Cester-Martínez, Armando, Serrano-Lasaosa, Leticia, Borraz-Clares, Diego
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.10.2021; Jems Publishing Company, Inc
• Subjects: Cardiac arrest; Electric currents; Electrodes; Emergency medical care; Fire departments; Firearms; Fires; Health care; Nervous system; Nonlethal weapons; Police; Special Report; Weapons; United States > US; Spain; police; physical restraint; conducted electrical weapon; TASER injury; Emergency Medical Services
• ISSN: 1049-023X; 1945-1938; 1945-1938
• DOI: 10.1017/S1049023X21000807

In the last decade, conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) have become a new tool for law enforcement agencies as an alternative to firearms. They provide security in the intervention for both the police and the citizen and try to cause the least possible harm to the subject to immobilize. The health care providers who perform in joint actions with the police in which CEWs are used should be aware of how they work, risk groups, as well as the most frequent clinical effects associated with the application of electrical discharge, and the complications that can be produced according to the area of impact of the electrodes. For this purpose, the current medical literature was reviewed by consulting the main health care sciences database (PubMed) to determine the medical measures to be taken before, during, and after the use of these weapons. Also presented and shared is the Zaragoza (Spain) Fire Department protocol.