Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funded the development of a model process for the development and implementation of evidence-based guidelines (EBGs) for emergency medical services (EMS). We report on the implementation and evaluation of an evidence-based prehospital pain management protocol developed using this model process. ⋯ We demonstrated that the implementation of a revised statewide prehospital pain management protocol based on an EBG developed using the National Prehospital Evidence-based Guideline Model Process was associated with an increase in dosing of narcotic pain medication consistent with that recommended by the EBG. No differences were seen in the percentage of patients receiving opiate analgesia or in the documentation of pain scores.
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The management of acute traumatic pain is a crucial component of prehospital care and yet the assessment and administration of analgesia is highly variable, frequently suboptimal, and often determined by consensus-based regional protocols. ⋯ GRADE methodology was used to develop an evidence-based guideline for prehospital analgesia in trauma. The panel issued four strong recommendations regarding patient assessment and narcotic medication dosing. Future research should define optimal approaches for implementation of the guideline as well as the impact of the protocol on safety and effectiveness metrics.
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Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening systemic allergic reaction that occurs after contact with an allergy-causing substance. Timely administration of intramuscular epinephrine is the treatment of choice for controlling symptoms and decreasing fatalities. Our purpose was to investigate the prehospital management of anaphylaxis among patients receiving care in an urban tertiary care pediatric emergency department (PED). ⋯ Our evaluation revealed low rates of epinephrine administration by EMS providers and parents/patients. Education about anaphylaxis is imperative to encourage earlier administration of epinephrine.
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Acute stroke patients require immediate medical attention. Therefore, American Stroke Association guidelines recommend that for suspected stroke cases, emergency medical services (EMS) personnel spend less than 15 minutes on-scene at least 90% of the time. However, not all EMS providers include specific scene time limits in their stroke patient care protocols. ⋯ Protocols with specific scene time limits were associated with EMS crews spending less time at the scene while general instructions were not. These findings suggest EMS systems can modestly improve scene times for stroke by specifying a time limit in their protocols.
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We sought to create a valid framework for detecting adverse events (AEs) in the high-risk setting of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). ⋯ We demonstrate a standardized process for the development of a content-valid framework for AE detection. The framework is a model for the development of a method for AE identification in other settings, including ground-based EMS.