Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine Oregon intermediate and advanced emergency medical technicians' (EMTs') attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and factors associated with those attitudes. ⋯ A majority of Oregon EMTs responding to this survey expressed support for PAS, think treatment protocols should direct paramedics to withhold resuscitation in such cases, and would feel comfortable withholding resuscitation given appropriate protocols. Nearly 3 out of 4 Oregon EMTs report seeing at least 1 terminally ill patient who had attempted suicide.
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To evaluate the concordance with criteria developed by the study investigators and supply costs associated with placement of i.v. lines and saline locks by paramedics in the out-of-hospital setting. ⋯ Based on study criteria for utilization of i.v. lines vs SLs in the field, paramedics and base hospital personnel often provide discordant-overtreatment of patients by placement of an i.v. when a SL or No i.v. would suffice, resulting in unnecessary costs for EMS systems.