Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Mar 2006
Success and complication rates with prehospital placement of an esophageal-tracheal combitube as a rescue airway.
Previous studies have proven the success of the Esophageal-Tracheal Combitube (ETC) as a primary airway, but not as a rescue airway. ⋯ Despite a low ROSC rate, the complication and success rates of ETC are acceptable for a rescue airway device. Tracheal placement of the Combitube is uncommon, but requires fail-safe discrimination. Similar to previous reports, the success ratio for ETT was greater than for the ETC.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Mar 2006
The prehospital emergency care system in Mexico City: a system's performance evaluation.
Mexico City has one of the highest mortality rates in Mexico, with non-intentional injuries as a leading cause of death among persons 1-44 years of age. Emergency medical services (EMS) in Mexico can achieve high levels of efficiency by offering high quality medical care at a low cost through adequate system design. ⋯ Emergency medical services in Mexico City did not meet the AAA requirements for high-quality, prehospital, emergency care. Coordination among EMS providers is difficult to achieve, due, in part, to the lack of: (1) an authoritative structure; (2) sound system design; and (3) appropriate legislation. The government, EMS providers, stakeholders, and community members should work together to build a high quality EMS system at the lowest possible cost.