Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
-
Multicenter Study
Medication calculation skills of practicing paramedics.
To assess the medication calculation skills among a group of practicing paramedics, the types of computations they find most difficult, and the relationship between drug calculation skills and various demographic characteristics. ⋯ Similar to findings among other allied health professions, medication calculation skills were found to be lacking among a group of practicing paramedics. In addition, the paramedics reported infrequent opportunities to perform this skill in the clinical setting and that medication calculations were not a routine part of EMS continuing education programs.
-
To investigate emergency medical services (EMS) providers' experience with weapons encountered while working, and evaluate the training they have received regarding searching for and confiscating weapons in the field. ⋯ These data suggest that weapons encountered in the field are a widespread problem for EMS providers. Although many EMS providers search for and find weapons on their patients, most of them feel they have been inadequately trained in this area. Prospective studies are needed to document the actual incidence of weapon encounters in the prehospital setting. Multidisciplinary discussions are needed to address the above issues.