Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
-
Comparative Study
Air vs ground transport and outcome in trauma patients requiring urgent operative interventions.
To study trauma patients requiring urgent operative interventions to determine whether transport mode was associated with outcome difference. ⋯ This study failed to identify, but had insufficient power to rule out, outcome benefit to air medical transport in a subset of trauma patients requiring urgent operative interventions.
-
To evaluate prehospital and receiving emergency department (ED) analgesia administration in air-transported patients with isolated fractures. ⋯ Some patients receiving intratransport fentanyl received no ED analgesia, and those who did receive ED analgesia often had administration delays surpassing the clinical half-life of intratransport-administered fentanyl. Further study should investigate whether setting-specific analgesia practice differences reflect true differences in analgesia needs, overmedication by prehospital providers, or undermedication by ED staff.
-
To determine the effect of the blizzard of 1996 on the utilization of a pediatric emergency department (ED). ⋯ Among other effects, a significant increase in severity of presentations to a pediatric ED following a severe storm can be observed.
-
The therapeutic window for intervention in acute cerebral ischemia is brief. Prehospital identification of acute stroke patients and paramedic administration of neuroprotective agents may soon become critical components of successful acute stroke treatment. This preliminary study sought to demonstrate that a new prehospital screening instrument, the Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Screen (LAPSS), sensitively identifies acute stroke patients. Further, the study evaluated the potential time savings that could be achieved by paramedic administration of neuroprotective agents in the field. ⋯ The LAPSS sensitively identifies ambulance-arriving acute stroke patients, and a substantial time savings will potentially occur if neuroprotective agents are administered by paramedics in the field. The LAPSS is a promising tool that may enable paramedic recognition of stroke with a high degree of sensitivity and simplicity in a short period of time.