Air medical journal
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Air medical journal · Nov 2020
ReviewPrehospital Management of Peripartum Neonatal Complications by Helicopter Emergency Medical Service in the South West of the Netherlands: An Observational Study.
Emergency medical service (EMS) is responsible for prehospital care encompassing all ages, irrespective of injury cause or medical condition, which includes peripartum emergencies. When patients require care more advanced than the level provided by the national EMS protocol, an EMS physician-staffed Dutch helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) may be dispatched. In the Netherlands in 2016, there were 21.434 planned home births guided by midwives alone without further obstetric assistance, accounting for 12.7% of all births that year. However, there are no clear data available thus far regarding neonates requiring emergency care with or without HEMS assistance. This article reviews neonates during our study period who received medical care after birth by HEMS. ⋯ During the study period, 52 neonates required medical assistance by HEMS. The 5 infants who died were all preterm. In this cohort, adequate basic life support was implemented immediately after birth either by the attending midwife, EMS, or HEMS on arrival. This suggests that prehospital first responders know the basic skills of neonatal life support.
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Air medical journal · Sep 2019
ReviewPrehospital Airway Management in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability among trauma patients. The final outcome of TBI results from a complex interaction between primary and secondary mechanisms of injury that begin immediately after the traumatic event. The aim of this review was to evaluate the latest evidence regarding the impact of prehospital airway management and the outcome after traumatic brain injury. ⋯ Literature about this topic is still inconclusive; however, new evidence taking into consideration more complex aspects of airway management rather than orotracheal intubation per se shows improved outcomes with aggressive prehospital airway management.
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Air medical journal · Jul 2018
ReviewSetting the Benchmark for the Ground and Air Medical Quality in Transport International Quality Improvement Collaborative.
Critical care transport (CCT) supports regionalization of medical care. Focus on the quality of CCT care prompted the development of the Ground and Air Medical qUality in Transport (GAMUT) Quality Improvement collaborative database which tracks consensus quality metrics. The Institute of Medicine recommends benchmarking of comparative data to accelerate improvement. Herein, we report the strategies and rationale for GAMUT QI Collaborative benchmarking. ⋯ Benchmarking is not well-suited for a single strategy and requires customized consideration based on each metric, though adjusted benchmark and ABC generally set higher performance benchmarks.
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Air medical journal · Sep 2017
ReviewDevelopment of a New Infusion Protocol for Austere Trauma Resuscitations.
Intravenous fluid therapy for hemorrhagic shock has undergone enormous changes since it was first conducted almost 200 years ago. In the past 40 years especially, practices have dramatically changed with regards to fluid resuscitation. ⋯ This article follows a prior article published in July 2014. It highlights the development of new cutting edge intravenous therapy regimens that maximize hemodynamic outcomes that can be effected by those providers that care for injured patients without the benefit of ample resources.
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Air medical journal · Jul 2017
ReviewThe 5 T's: Applying Cognitive Science to Improve Prehospital Medical Education.
Although research on effective teaching methods exists, the application of this information in prehospital medical education is limited. Applying lessons from the realms of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, prehospital educators can enhance their ability to teach. One such concept is the theory of cognitive load. ⋯ Thus, we propose 5 concise strategies gleaned from cognitive science literature: Tell a story, Time, Technical elements, Think novelly, and Testing and recall (referred to as the "5 T's"). Each strategy is grounded in research and applicable to medical education. Increased educator awareness and use of these strategies garners the potential to transform prehospital medical education.