prone 1

All physical confrontations end up on the ground. We cannot control if the patient goes face down or face up, but with training we can manage the patient safely either way. I believe face down offers the greatest control for the crew. The officers role does not change and the crew does its best to maintain eye contact with incident commander while focusing their efforts to control their body part. There is much concern about the patient being face down. When done properly, this is a very brief event. It poses less risk to the patient and crew than trying to “flip” the individual over before restraint.

Fire Engineering Sep 2008: Tactics For Combative Patients, Author: Michael W. Weaver