Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Rachel Waldron, MD et al.
Maintaining patient safety during transition from prehospital to emergency department (ED) care depends on effective handoff communication between providers. We sought to determine emergency physicians’ (EP) knowledge of the care provided by paramedics in terms of both procedures and medications, and whether the use of a verbal report improved physician accuracy.
Volume 15, Issue 4, July 2014
Natalie Hanks, MS et al.
Organized stroke systems of care include preferential emergency medical services (EMS) routing to deliver suspected stroke patients to designated hospitals. To characterize the growth and implementation of EMS routing of stroke nationwide, we describe the proportion of stroke hospitalizations in the United States (U.S.) occurring within regions having adopted these protocols.
Volume 15, Issue 2, March 2015
Calvin A. Brown, MD et al.
Pre-hospital airway management is a key component of resuscitation although the benefit of pre-hospital intubation has been widely debated. We report a large series of pre-hospital emergency airway encounters performed by air-transport providers in a large, multi-state system.
Volume 15, Issue 2, March 2014
Donald Schreiber, MDCM et al.
Many emergency department (ED) patients have symptoms that may be attributed to arrhythmias, necessitating outpatient ambulatory cardiac monitoring. Consensus is lacking on the optimal duration of monitoring. We describe the use of a novel device applied at ED discharge that provides continuous prolonged cardiac monitoring.
Volume 15, Issue 2, March 2014
Brad D. Gable, MD, MS et al.
Obesity is prevalent in the United States. Obese patients have physiologic differences from non-obese individuals. Not only does transport and maintenance of these patients require use of specialized equipment, but it also requires a distinct skill set and knowledge base. To date, there is no literature investigating simulation as a model for educating pre-hospital providers in the care of bariatric patients. The purpose of this study was to determine if a 3-hour educational course with simulation could improve paramedics’ knowledge and confidence of bariatric procedures and transport. This study also examined if prior experience with bariatric transport affected training outcomes.
Author Affiliation Amit Chandra, MD, MSc University of Botswana School of Medicine, Botswana Shauna Conry, MD CEP America, United States Introduction Discussion Abstract Introduction: Research and data regarding in-flight medical emergencies during commercial air travel are lacking. Although volunteer medical professionals are often called upon to assist, there are no guidelines or best practices to […]
Author Affiliation M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS Stanford University, Division of Emergency Medicine, Stanford, California Lesley J. Meng, HBA, BMSc Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York City, New York Mary P. Mercer, MD, MPH University of California San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California Jesse M. Pines, MD, MBA, MSCE […]
Author Affiliation Bryan E. Bledsoe, DO University of Nevada School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada MedicWest Ambulance/American Medical Response, Las Vegas, Nevada Chad Wasden, MD University of Nevada School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada Larry Johnson, NREMTP University of Nevada School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, […]
Introduction: Very few studies exist on the use of diltiazem in the prehospital setting. Some practitioners believe this medication is prone to causing hypotension in this setting. Our goals were to determine whether the prehospital administration of diltiazem induced hypotension and to evaluate the efficacy of the drug.
Conclusion: In the prehospital setting, diltiazem is associated with a very low rate of hypotension and appears to be effective in decreasing HR adequately. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Introduction: In a 2001 quality improvement (QI) study, we demonstrated improvement in paramedic knowledge, perceptions, and management of pain. This follow-up study examines the impact of this QI program, repeated educational intervention (EI), and effectiveness of a new pain management standard operating procedure.
Conclusion: In this follow up study, paramedics’ baseline knowledge, perceptions, and management of pain have all improved from 6 years ago.
Introduction: Loading of thiamine prior to glucose administration during hypoglycemia to prevent Wernicke’s encephalopathy is routine in the prehospital setting. To date no study has looked at the validity of this therapy.
Conclusion: To our knowledge this is the first study in the literature which evaluated the use of thiamine with glucose to prevent Wernicke’s encephalopathy in the prehospital setting. We found that routine administration of thiamine with glucose did not result in differences in respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, GCS or ED hospital discharge rates. Until further research is done to validate our results emergency medical services leadership should consider whether the routine use of thiamine in the prehospital setting is appropriate for their system.
This report aims to illustrate the history and current status of Japanese emergency medical services (EMS), including development of the specialty and characteristics adapted from the U.S. and European models. In addition, recommendations are made for improvement of the current systems.
