Objective:

To identify the perception of the person with spinal cord injury from the accident on trauma, rescue and urgent and emergency care.

Methods:

exploratory study, with a qualitative approach carried out with ten people with traumatic spinal cord injury between September and November 2014, residing in Chapecó-SC. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were used, and the data were submitted to Thematic Content Analysis.

Results:

Eight men and two women aged between 18 and 35 years were interviewed. Among the empirical categories that emerged from the process of apprehending the data are: the beginning of functional disability: trauma; and the rescue and urgent care (Emergency Room and Intensive Care Unit).

Conclusion:

The rehabilitation process of the person with spinal cord injury should be started as early as possible, which highlights the importance of pre-hospital care. It is up to the pre-hospital care team to intensify this care in order to assist in the conduct of functional independence.

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