Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
The reliability of prehospital clinical evaluation for potential spinal injury is not affected by the mechanism of injury.
Traditional EMS teaching identifies mechanism of injury as an important predictor of spinal injury. Clinical criteria to select patients for immobilization are being studied in Michigan and have been implemented in Maine. Maine requires automatic immobilization of patients with "a positive mechanism" clearly capable of producing spinal injury. ⋯ Mechanism of injury does not affect the ability of clinical criteria to predict spinal injury in this population.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
The impact of television public service announcements on the rate of bystander CPR.
To determine whether televised public service announcements (PSAs) demonstrating the fundamentals of CPR were effective in increasing the rate of layperson bystander-initiated CPR. ⋯ Airing of the PSA was accompanied by an increase in the rate of bystander CPR, though the increase may be attributable to a secular trend.
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To analyze flight crew airway management in four different settings (in flight, at trauma scenes, in ambulance, and in referring hospitals) and in two different aircraft used by the same helicopter EMS (HEMS) service. The null hypothesis was that there was no association between practice setting, or aircraft, and airway practices or success rate. ⋯ While HEMS crew airway management success rates are equally high in all practice settings, airway management decision making and practice appear to be significantly influenced by practice setting and aircraft type. These data support contentions that nonphysician HEMS crews can effectively manage airways in a variety of circumstances.
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Establishing an airway is a critical first step in emergency management of comatose patients and those who have suffered head trauma, cardiac arrest, or respiratory failure. The use of succinylcholine, a paralytic, to assist with intubation is a safe and effective way to help establish an airway under difficult circumstances, in the prehospital setting. ⋯ Therefore, under the auspices of strong medical control, it is an effective way to establish adequate oxygenation and to control ventilation in some of the most critical patients encountered in the field. Additionally, because physical examination alone is not dependable for ensuring proper endotracheal tube placement, an objective confirmatory device such as an end-tidal carbon dioxide detector should be used.
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Proper airway management in the prehospital setting is essential. Recent data from Orange County, Florida, suggest that the problem of misplaced endotracheal tubes may be greater than previous studies have indicated. Strong medical direction, strict protocols, and active continuous quality improvement programs are needed to ensure that paramedics learn the correct techniques of endotracheal intubation, and that they verify tube placement with an end-tidal carbon dioxide monitor, and maintain ongoing monitoring of tube placement during transport.