Prehospital Emergency Care back issues from October 2008:
ADDRESSING PREHOSPITAL PATIENT SAFETY USING THE SCIENCE OF INJURY PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT There is inadequate information about the scope and character of adverse events in prehospital care. However, there is ample evidence to suggest that prehospital patient safety hazards are often unique and underrecognized. We first summarize what is currently understood about ...
COMMUNITY CONSULTATION METHODS IN A STUDY USING EXCEPTION TO INFORMED CONSENT
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. The most effective means of community consultation is unknown. We evaluated differences in community opinion elicited by varying means of consultation. Methods. We compared responses with a cross-sectional, standardized survey administered as part of the community ...
ADVANCE HOSPITAL NOTIFICATION BY EMS IN ACUTE STROKE IS ASSOCIATED WITH SHORTER DOOR-TO-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY TIME AND INCREASED LIKELIHOOD OF ADMINISTRATION OF TISSUE-PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Background. Rapid brain imaging is a critical step in facilitating the use of intravenous (IV) tissue-plasminogen activator (tPA) or catheter-based thrombolysis. We hypothesized that advance notification by emergency medical services (EMS) would shorten emergency department (ED) ...
A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL COMPARING TREATMENT REGIMENS FOR ACUTE PAIN FOR TOPICAL OLEORESIN CAPSAICIN (PEPPER SPRAY) EXPOSURE IN ADULT VOLUNTEERS
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. Several topical therapies have been proposed to treat acute pain from exposure to oleoresin capsaicin (OC). The purpose of this study was to determine the most beneficial topical treatment for relieving contact dermatitis pain caused by OC exposure. Methods. We ...
LOCATION OF AIRWAY MANAGEMENT IN AIR MEDICAL TRANSPORT
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Background. Prehospital providers are constantly challenged with the task of managing airways in unpredictable and often inhospitable environments. Air medical transport (AMT) crews must be prepared to work in restrictive spaces with limited resources while in the aircraft. This ...
HELICOPTER SCENE RESPONSE: REGIONAL VARIATION IN COMPLIANCE WITH AIR MEDICAL TRIAGE GUIDELINES
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Background. Our state has consensus guides for helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) scene dispatch, based on physiologic, anatomic, and special criteria (e.g., ejection from a vehicle, age <10 or >55 years). There has been much attention paid to improving HEMS ...
ESTABLISHING THE NEED FOR TRAUMA CENTER CARE: ANATOMIC INJURY OR RESOURCE USE?
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. It remains unclear whether the "need" for care at a trauma center should be based on anatomic injury (the current standard) or specialized resource use. We investigated whether anatomic injury severity scores adequately explain hospital resource use. Methods. This was ...
DISTANCE IMPACTS MORTALITY IN TRAUMA PATIENTS WITH AN INTUBATION ATTEMPT
Oct 01, 2008; ... Abstract Objective. Out-of-hospital endotracheal intubation (OOHETI) has been associated with adverse outcomes; whether transport distance changes this relationship is unclear. We sought to determine whether patients injured farther from the hospital benefit more from OOH-ETI than those ...
DO OUTCOME MEASURES FOR TRAUMA TRIAGE AGREE?
Oct 01, 2008; ... Abstract Objective. The goal of trauma triage is to match resources to the needs of seriously injured patients. The trauma triage literature has used a variety of outcome measures to assess appropriate trauma activation. The objective of this study was to determine the agreement between ...
CAN EMERGENCY MEDICAL DISPATCH CODES PREDICT PREHOSPITAL INTERVENTIONS FOR COMMON 9-1-1 CALL TYPES?
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. The Medical Priority Dispatch System is an emergency medical dispatch (EMD) system that is widely used to categorize 9-1-1 calls and optimize resource allocation. This study evaluates the ability of EMD and non-EMD codes (calls not processed by EMD) to predict ...
CAN EMERGENCY MEDICAL DISPATCH SYSTEMS SAFELY REDUCE FIRST-RESPONDER CALL VOLUME?
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objectives. Emergency medical dispatch (EMD) protocols are intended to match response resources with patient needs. In a small city that previously sent a first-responder basic life support (BLS) engine company lights-and-siren response to every emergency medical services (EMS) ...
PREVENTION OF PEDIATRIC DRUG CALCULATION ERRORS BY PREHOSPITAL CARE PROVIDERS
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. Calculating weight-based drug doses for pediatric patients is difficult, with significant error potential. In the prehospital setting, few safeguards currently avert pediatric drug administration errors. We sought to determine whether use of a protocol-specific ...
IS ONLINE PEDIATRIC CONTINUING EDUCATION EFFECTIVE IN A RURAL STATE?
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. This prospective study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of online pediatric education for prehospital emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Methods. Online emergency medical services (EMS) continuing education modules, on various pediatric emergency topics, ...
PAY FOR PERFORMANCE IMPROVES RURAL EMS QUALITY: INVESTMENT IN PREHOSPITAL CARE
Oct 01, 2008; ... ABSTRACT Objective. To evaluate the effect of a system of financial reward for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who meet selected quality marker goals. Methods. This project was reviewed by an institutional review board (IRB) and was found to be exempt from IRB review. Two ...
AORTIC DISSECTION MIMICKING ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: THE PERILS OF PREHOSPITAL CARE
Oct 01, 2008; ... CASE REPORT A 60-year-old man with no relevant medical history complained of chest pain prior to collapsing in his backyard in rural Kent, England. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was commenced by his family because he was unconscious and believed to be in cardiac arrest. A paramedic ...