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 describe the characteristics and associated occupant injuries of motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) involving ambulances as compared with MVCs involving similar-sized vehicles. ⋯ Ambulance crashes occur more frequently at intersections and traffic signals and involve more people and more injuries than those of similar-sized vehicles.
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The need to further disaster preparedness has resulted in a call for more comprehensive disaster research. Past disaster research has, for the most part, been limited by the inability to obtain complete medical data from victims of disasters. A national disaster-victim database (NDVD) can be developed that will facilitate collection and aggregation of disaster-victim medical data from health care facilities. ⋯ This would allow for more victim data to be studied as well as for more accurate data to be collected. Technologic advancement has encouraged a real-time data-collection model in St. Louis that can act as a model for NDVD implementation.
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Computer-aided dispatch systems are used to assess the severity of a 9-1-1 caller's complaint and then assign an appropriate level of emergency medical services (EMS) response. ⋯ Dispatch codes that had previously been determined to be low-acuity were found not to be so in this community. The variation in clinical practice is likely explained by a more precautionary approach to care in this EMS system and the increased use of analgesics. This study demonstrates the need to define the optimal subset of prehospital patients who would benefit from these treatments.
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The EasyTube (EzT) is a new sterile, disposable airway device approved by the European Union in February 2003 and by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2005. The two-lumen design of the EzT enables it to be used as an endotracheal tube or as a supraglottic emergency airway. ⋯ The first experiences with the use of the EzT are promising. In emergency airway management procedures presenting problems, the device successfully established sufficient ventilation and oxygenation. Further studies are needed to compare its value with those of other supraglottic devices.
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To describe the characteristics of patients found to have cardiac arrest and to evaluate the characteristics predictive of survival after cardiac arrest in a paramedic first-responder model. ⋯ The rates of survival in this paramedic first-response system are favorable compared with basic emergency medical technician first-response systems. Further study using direct comparison methodology is warranted to confirm these findings.