Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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To determine the baseline rate of aspirin administration by paramedics and to assess the effect of two interventions (protocol change and brief educational intervention) on that rate. ⋯ Aspirin is underutilized in treating patients with suspected ACS. Two brief interventions can lead to modest increases in aspirin administration rates. Even after these interventions, aspirin administration rates remain low.
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1) To evaluate the ability to train emergency medical technicians-basic (EMT-Bs) to accurately identify bronchospasm and, based on a treatment protocol, administer albuterol sulfate via nebulization as a standing order. 2) To measure the improvement in patient condition after treatment. ⋯ This study indicated EMT-Bs were highly successful in their evaluation of bronchospasm. Based on this level of accuracy, the authors suggest that it is safe for emergency medical service systems and medical directors to develop protocols that allow EMT-Bs to administer albuterol via nebulizer for bronchospasm based on their assessment.
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Multicenter Study
Factors associated with the use of pharmacologic agents to facilitate out-of-hospital endotracheal intubation.
To identify a set of clinical factors most strongly associated with the use of drug-facilitated intubation (DFI) in the out-of-hospital setting. ⋯ The authors identified a set of predictors strongly associated with DFI. These data offer insight into the current use of DFI and support the development of consensus-based guidelines for this procedure.
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Although the concept of emergency medical services (EMS) has existed for 30 years, there is little scientific evidence validating its impact on morbidity and mortality. A significant barrier to conducting meaningful assessments relates to the lack of reliable and uniform EMS data. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which states incorporate the Uniform Prehospital EMS Data Elements into statewide EMS data collection systems. ⋯ Findings suggest that related EMS data variables are collected by the majority of states across the country. This degree of similarity provides a foundation for establishing common fields that can be used to develop a national EMS registry.
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Prior studies of automated external defrillator placement strategies for public access defibrillation (PAD) have addressed only the venue of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) in large urban areas. This study evaluates the relationship between population density and the incidence and location of OOHCA. ⋯ There are variations in incidence and location of OOHCA based on population density in Georgia. As population density increases, the incidence percentage of OOHCAs decreases. However, as population density increases, there is an increase in the percentage of cardiac arrests occurring outside the home, where more OOHCAs could potentially benefit from PAD.