Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Although socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to multiple health outcomes, there have been few studies of the effect of SES on the provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during cardiac arrest events and no studies that we know of on the effect of SES on the provision of dispatcher-assisted bystander CPR. This study sought to define the relationship between SES and the provision of bystander CPR in an emergency medical system that includes dispatcher-provided CPR instructions. ⋯ This study suggests that higher bystander SES is associated with increased rates of bystander CPR with and without dispatcher instructions. CPR training programs that target lower-SES communities and assessment of these training methods may be warranted.
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To compare the prehospital time intervals from patient contact and medication administration to clinical response for intranasal (IN) versus intravenous (IV) naloxone in patients with suspected narcotic overdose. ⋯ The time from dose administration to clinical response for naloxone was longer for the IN route, but the overall time from patient contact to response was the same for the IV and IN routes. Given the difficulty and potential hazards in obtaining IV access in many patients with narcotic overdose, IN naloxone appears to be a useful and potentially safer alternative.