Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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To evaluate the implementation of an out-of-hospital termination of resuscitation policy in an urban EMS setting. ⋯ Field termination of resuscitation is practical in the setting of asystole unresponsive to aggressive resuscitative efforts. The implementation of such an out-of-hospital termination of resuscitation policy is complicated by many problems and is best accomplished by a gradual implementation process. Through this process all members of the EMS community can address practical and ethical issues and grow comfortable with the ongoing evolution of out-of-hospital therapy.
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To measure the accuracy of lead II rhythm strip interpretations performed by advanced life support (ALS) emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in a rural emergency medical services (EMS) system. ⋯ In this EMS system, ECG interpretations are generally accurate, with tachydysrhythmias and AV blocks being the source of most discrepancies.
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The widespread use of orotracheal intubation with rapid-sequence induction has made it difficult for emergency medical services (EMS) professionals to gain experience in nasotracheal intubation (NTI) in a controlled and supervised setting. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a training session on NTI with a breathing manikin can be used to improve the self-assessed skill level and comfort of EMS professionals. ⋯ For EMS professionals, a training session for NTI using a relatively inexpensive and easily assembled breathing manikin model increases both comfort and self-assessed skill level.