Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Nov 2006
Clinical TrialCasualty collection in mass-casualty incidents: a better method for finding proverbial needles in a haystack.
Mass-casualty incidents (MCIs) are on the rise. The ability to locate, identify, and triage patients quickly and efficiently results in better patient outcomes. Poor lighting due to time of day, inclement weather, and power outages can make locating patients difficult. Efficient methods of locating patients allow for quicker transport to definitive care. ⋯ The use of the highly visible glow sticks, in conjunction with the START triage tags, allowed for more rapid and accurate casualty collection in suboptimal lighting. The use of the glow sticks made it easier to relocate previously triaged patients and arrange for expeditious transport to definitive care. In addition, the glow sticks reduced the number of patient errors. Most importantly, there was a significant reduction in the number of patients that initially were triaged via the START method, but were overlooked during casualty collection and transport.
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Americans are living longer and are more likely to be chronically or terminally ill at the time of death. Although surveys indicate that most people prefer to die at home, the majority of people in the United States die in acute care hospitals. Each year, approximately 400,000 persons suffer sudden cardiac arrest in the US, the majority occurring in the out-of-hospital setting. ⋯ Emergency medical services policy regarding resuscitation should consider its utility in various clinical scenarios. Patients, family members, emergency medical providers, and physicians all are important stakeholders to consider in decisions about out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Ideally, future policy will place greater emphasis on patient preferences and quality of life by including all of these viewpoints.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Nov 2006
Impact of a citywide blackout on an urban emergency medical services system.
On 14 August 2003, New York City and a large portion of the northeastern United States experienced the largest blackout in the history of the country. An analysis of such a widespread disaster on emergency medical service (EMS) operations may assist in planning for and managing such disasters in the future. ⋯ The citywide blackout resulted in dramatic changes in the demands upon the EMS system of New York City, the types of patients for whom EMS providers were assigned to provide care, and the dispositions for those assignments. During this time of increased, system-wide demand, the use of cross-trained firefighter and first-responder engine companies resulted in improved response times to cardiac arrest patients. Finally, the ability of the EMS dispatch center to process the increased requests for EMS assistance proved to be the rate-limiting step in responding to these emergencies. These findings will prove useful in planning for future blackouts or any disaster that may broadly impact the infrastructure of a city.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Nov 2006
Percutaneous transtracheal ventilation: resuscitation bags do not provide adequate ventilation.
Percutaneous, transtracheal jet ventilation (PTJV) is an effective way to ventilate both adults and children. However, some authors suggest that a resuscitation bag can be utilized to ventilate through a cannula placed into the trachea. ⋯ Resuscitation bags should not be used to ventilate adult patients through a 14-gauge, transtracheal catheter. Jet ventilation is needed when percutaneous transtracheal ventilation is attempted. If jet ventilation is attempted using oxygen supply tubing, it must be connected to an unregulated oxygen source of at least 50 psi.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Nov 2006
Performance indicators as quality control for testing and evaluating hospital management groups: a pilot study.
An important issue in disaster medicine is the establishment of standards that can be used as a template for evaluation. With the establishment of standards, the ability to compare results will improve, both within and between different organizations involved in disaster management. ⋯ The use of performance indicators for evaluating the management skills of hospital groups can provide comparable results in testing situations and could provide a new tool for quality improvement of evaluations of real incidents and disasters.