Prehospital and disaster medicine
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2010
Utilization of warning lights and siren based on hospital time-critical interventions.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the time saved by usage of lights and siren (L&S) during emergency medical transport and measure the total number of time-critical hospital interventions gained by this time difference. ⋯ Limiting lights and siren use to the patients requiring hospital interventions will decrease the risks of injury and death, while adding the benefit of time saved in these critical patients.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · Jul 2010
Physiological scoring: an aid to emergency medical services transport decisions?
Attendance at UK emergency departments is rising steadily despite the proliferation of alternative unscheduled care providers. Evidence is mixed on the willingness of emergency medical services (EMS) providers to decline to transport patients and the safety of incorporating such an option into EMS provision. Physiologically based Early Warning Scores are in use in many hospitals and emergency departments, but not yet have been proven to be of benefit in the prehospital arena. ⋯ Despite significant over-triage, this system could have diverted 79 patients safely from the emergency department to alternative, unscheduled, care providers.
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Prehosp Disaster Med · May 2010
Triage performance of first-year medical students using a multiple-casualty scenario, paper exercise.
Large-scale events may overwhelm the capacity of even the most advanced emergency medical systems. When patient volume outweighs the number of available emergency medical services (EMS) providers, a mass-casualty incident may require the aid of non-medical volunteers. These individuals may be utilized to perform field disaster triage, lessening the burden on EMS personnel. ⋯ First-year medical students who received brief START training achieved triage accuracy scores similar to those of emergency physicians, registered nurses, and paramedics in previous studies. Observed rates of under and over-triage suggest that a need exists for improving the accuracy of triage decisions made by medical and non-medical personnel. This study did not find that printed materials significantly improved triage accuracy, nor did it find that patient age affected the ability of participants to correctly assign triage categories. Future research might further evaluate disaster triage by non-medical volunteers.