Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jan 2010
Evaluation of the effect of prehospital application of continuous positive airway pressure therapy in acute respiratory distress.
The impact of the use of mask continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on patients with acute respiratory distress in the prehospital, rural setting has not been defined. The goal was to test the use of CPAP using the Respironics WhisperFlow CPAP in patients presenting with acute respiratory distress. This was a collaborative evaluation of CPAP involving a rural EMS agency and the regional medical center. Patient outcomes including the overall rate of intubation-both in the field and in the emergency department (ED), and length of stay in the hospital and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were tracked. ⋯ The use of the CPAP in the prehospital setting is beneficial for patients in acute respiratory distress.