Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of Success Rates between Two Video Laryngoscope Systems Used in a Prehospital Clinical Trial.
The primary aims of this study were to compare paramedic success rates and complications of two different video laryngoscopes in a prehospital clinical study. ⋯ The CMAC had a higher likelihood of successful intubation compared to the King Vision. Complication rates were not statistically different between groups. Video laryngoscope placement success rates were not higher than our historical direct laryngoscopy success rates.
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Observational Study
EMS Provider Compliance with Infection Control Recommendations Is Suboptimal.
Standard precautions are disease transmission prevention strategies recommended by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel are expected to utilize standard precautions. ⋯ EMS provider compliance with standard precautions and equipment disinfection recommendations is suboptimal. Strategies must be developed to improve EMS provider compliance with internationally recognized infection control guidelines. Key words: Emergency medical services, hand washing, hygiene, disinfection, disease prevention.
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The objectives of this study are to develop a discrete-event simulation (DES) model for the Singapore Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and to demonstrate the utility of this DES model for the evaluation of different policy alternatives to improve ambulance response times. ⋯ Response times were shown to be improved via a more effective reallocation of ambulances and dispatch policy. More importantly, the response time improvements were achieved without a reduction in the utilization levels and additional costs associated with the addition of ambulances. We demonstrated the effective use of DES as a versatile platform to model the dynamic system complexities of Singapore's national EMS systems for the evaluation of operational strategies to improve ambulance response times.