European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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This is a report on our first 2 years' experience of operating a helicopter emergency medical service in the Canary Islands, Spain. The two advanced life-support helicopters are staffed full time by a physician and a nurse. For the transport protocol, inter-hospital transport patients (secondary missions) were classified into three groups: group A, minor illnesses or injuries; group B, modified or middle critical condition; and group C, critical condition. ⋯ The cost per mission was US$2300. In the interests of safety and rationalization of the use of resources, transport of non-critical patients should be reduced. The presence of a trained physician and nursing crew and stabilization before transport could be responsible for the low mortality rate.
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Does witnessed cardiopulmonary resuscitation alter perceived stress in accident and emergency staff?
The aim of this study was to ascertain if the presence of patients' relatives during cardiopulmonary resuscitation altered perceived symptoms of stress in accident and emergency personnel participating in resuscitation attempts. An anonymous structured questionnaire survey of all accident and emergency staff participating in non-traumatic adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation was designed to elicit symptoms of an acute stress reaction within 24 hours based on ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. One hundred and fourteen staff replies were received, a reply rate of 89%. ⋯ The grade or role of the staff member had no influence on the presence of stress symptoms. There was no difference in rates of reporting between staff resuscitating in the presence or absence of relatives. It is concluded that the presence of relatives witnessing resuscitation attempts does not affect self-reported stress symptoms in staff participating in resuscitation attempts.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate short- and long-term outcome prior to and after the introduction of a more intensified treatment in the ambulance of patients with acute severe heart failure. Consecutive patients with acute severe heart failure transported by the mobile coronary care unit (MCCU) in the community of Göteborg prior to and after the introduction of an intensified treatment (nitroglycerine, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and furosemide). One hundred and fifty-eight patients were evaluated during each period. ⋯ However, the mortality during the first year remained high during both periods (39.2% and 35.8%, p = 0.64). It is concluded that a more intensive treatment in the ambulance of patients with acute severe heart failure seems to have resulted in an improvement in symptoms during transport and less myocardial damage. However, no significant improvement in long-term mortality was observed.
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The teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has had a positive public health impact beyond resuscitating cardiac arrest victims to include recognition of signs and symptoms and prevention of heart attacks. To study the general knowledge and degree of preparedness in the Republic of Poland, a national survey was conducted. ⋯ The results indicate that (1) approximately 75% of the Polish population has received CPR training; (2) the majority of the surveyed population assess their CPR ability as inadequate; (3) the surveyed population believe that CPR training needs to be expanded and improved. Taking into consideration results of the CPR knowledge assessment questions it can be concluded that CPR knowledge in Poland is low and a standardized curriculum for CPR training is needed.
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Over the past decade, the philosophy of total quality has appeared in all fields of industry in Japan and the USA. This philosophy is now present all over Europe as well, Italy included. ⋯ The present article describes the main steps which led to an external accredited team granting the emergency department of this hospital a quality system certificate in 1997 according to the international quality system requirements UNI EN ISO 9002. The importance of this work lies in the fact than an industrial quality standardization system, whose requirements have little in common with a traditional view of medical practice, can nevertheless be applied to a public health care department.