Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
-
Meta Analysis
Estimates of cost-effectiveness of prehospital continuous positive airway pressure in the management of acute pulmonary edema.
To estimate the cost-effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in managing prehospital acute pulmonary edema in an urban EMS system. ⋯ Previous studies have demonstrated the clinical effectiveness of CPAP in the management of acute pulmonary edema. Through a theoretical analysis which modeled the costs and clinical benefits of implementing CPAP in an urban EMS system, prehospital CPAP appears to be a cost-effective treatment.
-
Review Meta Analysis
A meta-analysis of prehospital care times for trauma.
Time to definitive care is a major determinant of trauma patient outcomes yet little is empirically known about prehospital times at the national level. We sought to determine national averages for prehospital times based on a systematic review of published literature. ⋯ Despite the emphasis on time in the prehospital and trauma literature there has been no national effort to empirically define average prehospital time intervals for trauma patients. We provide points of reference for prehospital intervals so that policymakers can compare individual emergency medical systems to national norms.
-
Meta Analysis
Nontrauma helicopter emergency medical services transport: annotated review of selected outcomes-related literature.
While helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) has its roots in military transport of wounded soldiers, rotor-wing transport is also used for a wide variety of nontrauma indications. Despite this common use of HEMS for noninjured patients, a Medline search found little systematic review of the literature pertinent to HEMS use for nontrauma. ⋯ The paper's goal is to provide a useful resource for those interested in pursuing more focused review of various sectors of the nontrauma HEMS literature. As such, the main objective of the article summaries is to provide a brief outline of study design and results; there is also limited editorial comment included after each summary.