Articles: emergency-medical-services.
-
Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2025
The use of strong analgesics for prehospital pain management in children in the region of Southern Denmark: a register-based study.
Acute pain in the prehospital setting is frequent and prehospital pain management presents multiple challenges, especially in children. There is a lack of high-level evidence regarding prehospital pain management in the paediatric population worldwide. In Denmark, this lack of evidence particularly concerns the frequency of the prehospital use of strong analgesics. Guidelines are sparse but there is evidence that prehospital fentanyl may be administered up to 5 µg/kg. ⋯ The doses of opioids as administered by the EMS personnel seem safe as 97% of the doses were within the recommended range and even at the lower end of the recommended range. Although apparently safe, the utilisation of strong analgesics points to a risk of under-treating pain in children.
-
Improved data on spinal motion restriction (SMR) use can improve pediatric prehospital guidelines and inform the appropriate use of this procedure. We sought to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with SMR among injured children in the prehospital setting. ⋯ We identified multiple factors associated with SMR use. These findings provide an opportunity to evaluate practices, track changes, and assess the impact of updated SMR guidelines in pediatric EMS.
-
Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2025
Implementation of prehospital point-of-care ultrasound using a novel continuous feedback approach in a UK helicopter emergency medical service.
There has been increased use of prehospital point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) in recent years. Lack of governance structure and evidence of benefit have been described as major barriers to its implementation. This paper describes a novel approach to implementation of prehospital PoCUS and clinical governance framework in a UK HEMS. ⋯ Introduction of prehospital PoCUS in a HEM service utilizing high quality training, user-friendly workflow and image archiving system, robust governance framework and continuous feedback may be feasible allowing high quality ultrasound examinations. The bespoke PPPB protocol in prehospital may improve diagnosis of life-threatening injuries.
-
For out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with refractory arrest, transport to hospital with ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-"intra-arrest transport (IAT)"-is a treatment option, however it may reduce resuscitation quality. Unfortunately, international registries do not measure IAT directly, but other variables may be used to estimate IAT. We compared three indirect definitions to a direct measurement of IAT. ⋯ Compared to a direct measurement of IAT, the indirect definition using "Any ROSC" demonstrated the lowest sensitivity; however, the definition using "Sustained ROSC" showed the highest sensitivity and specificity. These indirect definitions may support estimation of IAT within future research and quality initiatives.
-
Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2025
Comparison of Outcomes for Emergency Medical Services-Transported Infants With Suspected Brief Resolved Unexplained Events Before and After the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.
This study compares care-seeking behavior, care delivery, and outcomes for infants with suspected brief resolved unexplained events (BRUEs) who were treated by emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency department clinicians before and after the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and stay-at-home mandates. ⋯ For EMS-treated infants with paramedic-suspected BRUE, presentations and hospital admissions were similar before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home mandates. There was a longitudinal increase in EMS transports for infants with suspected BRUE before the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home mandates, which then leveled off in the after period.