Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Most patients with serious illness prefer to die at home; however, for those requiring ongoing ventilatory support, this preference is often not honored due to the difficulties of arranging a palliative extubation at home. Here we present two cases of successful home palliative extubations, coordinated by a multidisciplinary team including critical care, palliative care, care management, hospice, and emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians. By exploring the operational and regulatory challenges accompanying these cases, we provide a road map for offering mechanically ventilated patients the choice of a death at home and provide truly holistic and patient-centered care.
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Early initiation of targeted temperature management (TTM) is crucial for post-resuscitation care. Although TTM is initiated prior to transport and continued during interhospital transport (IHT), its feasibility and safety during IHT for cardiac arrest patients have not been thoroughly assessed. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and safety of interhospital TTM for post-resuscitation patients. ⋯ Administration of TTM during IHT for post-cardiac arrest patients appears to be feasible and safe. These findings support the implementation of dedicated critical care transport systems capable of providing TTM during IHT for post-cardiac arrest patients.
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The quality of prehospital resuscitation provided by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) is essential to ensure better outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). We assessed the quality of prehospital resuscitation by recording time to key prehospital interventions using EMT-worn video devices and investigated its association with outcomes of patients with OHCA. ⋯ This study describes the rate of sustained ROSC and time to key interventions captured by EMT-worn video devices in non-traumatic OHCA patients. Although we found no direct link between QI performance and improved OHCA outcomes, this study highlights the potential of video-assisted QIs to enhance the documentation and understanding of prehospital resuscitation processes. These findings suggest that further refinement and application of these QIs could support more effective resuscitation strategies and training programs.
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Medically complex children present a low frequency but often high acuity patient population for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. We present a case of a 12-year-old male with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and adrenal agenesis found unresponsive. ⋯ This case highlights the importance of recognizing adrenal insufficiency-induced hypoglycemia in patients presenting with altered mental status. EMS personnel should be trained to identify and manage adrenal insufficiency, using detailed histories and on-scene medical oversight to improve outcomes.
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Evidence-based guidelines (EBGs) are widely recognized as valuable tools to aggregate and translate scientific knowledge into clinical care. High-quality EBGs can also serve as important components of dissemination and implementation efforts focused on educating emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians about current evidence-based prehospital clinical care practices and operations. We aimed to perform the third biennial systematic review of prehospital EBGs to identify and assess the quality of prehospital EBGs published since 2021. ⋯ This updated systematic review identified and appraised recent guidelines addressing prehospital care and identifies important targets for education of EMS personnel. Continued opportunities exist for prehospital guideline developers to include comprehensive evidence-based reporting into guideline development to facilitate widespread implementation of high-quality EBGs in EMS systems and incorporate the best available scientific evidence into initial education and continued competency activities.