Articles: emergency-medical-services.
-
A coordinated community response to cardiac arrest can be successful if the response time to administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is less than four minutes and to administration of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) is less than eight minutes. Elements needed to achieve this goal include rapid access to the emergency medical system; widespread CPR training; rapid response of first responders trained in basic life support; rapid response time to ACLS, including resuscitation at the scene; and an evaluation system to determine the effectiveness of the response and then implementation of changes to prevent future mistakes. ⋯ Most communities already have the necessary elements and simply need to coordinate the effort into a reasonable approach. Perhaps with such an approach, 80% of deaths from sudden cardiac arrest could be prevented.
-
Of the three phases of disaster response, the primary phase (immediate postincident to six hours thereafter) represents the core of the EMS-augmented response to save lives. Activities during this phase include triage, victim control and stabilization, communications, and transportation. To cope successfully with the mass casualties of an actual disaster, special emergency forces must be trained (and rehearsed) to act together as a team to treat the critically ill and injured.
-
The ability to recognize symptoms, to make priority decisions, to dispatch suitable ambulance transport and inform the crews, and finally, to initiate first aid via the caller is essential for optimum care of severely injured or ill patients outside the hospital. In Sweden, a special job-related course trains dispatch-center personnel to think in terms of symptoms and evolution of the victim's status, and to assess the level of seriousness.