Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Comparative Study
Trauma center versus non-trauma center admissions in adult trauma victims by age and gender.
The admission types and appropriateness of admission of adults with differing levels of injury severity were compared, based on patient age and gender. ⋯ Findings suggest that older trauma victims whose injuries appear to be serious are admitted to NTCs more often than are younger trauma victims with similarly serious injuries. Additional studies to examine this phenomenon are warranted.
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Comparative Study
Prevalence of automated external defibrillators at cardiac arrest high-risk sites.
Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) distributed throughout communities may improve survival from cardiac arrest. The purpose of this study was to determine if AEDs were present at high-risk locations for cardiac arrest in King County, Washington. ⋯ Although AEDs have diffused into high-risk sites in this community, the diffusion appears to vary by the type of site.
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Guatemala has recently undergone many advances in emergency medical services (EMS) training and disaster management. Industrialization and demographic changes have led to a continuing decline in the prevalence of infectious disease, while trauma and cardiovascular-related deaths have become increasingly important. Trauma now accounts for the nation's single greatest cause of productive years of life lost, a major indicator of a disease's impact on society. ⋯ However, until recently, prehospital medical care was provided by firefighters, who lacked formal medical training. Responding to a perceived need, increased collaborative efforts between prehospital care providers and governmental and nongovernmental agencies have rapidly improved provider training, initiated care standardization, and improved disaster preparedness. These efforts may serve as a model to other developing nations seeking to improve their EMS systems.
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerging and highly infectious form of atypical pneumonia with a high rate of transmission, especially among health care workers. With SARS, certain policies had to be implemented rapidly by the emergency ambulance services and the Ministry of Health to support and protect all personnel adequately. The authors discuss the changes in policies and personnel behavior, the training and education that had to be disseminated widely, and certain alternatives in policies such as transportation. The authors hope to share their experience in the implementation of these strategies by the Singapore Civil Defence Force and stress the importance of the psychological preparedness of the paramedics and prehospital care providers worldwide in this era of SARS.