Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Meta Analysis
Non-invasive ventilation in the prehospital emergency setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Noninvasive ventilation is a well-established treatment for acute respiratory failure, being increasingly applied in the prehospital setting. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to investigate whether early prehospital initiation of noninvasive ventilation reduces mortality compared to standard oxygen therapy. ⋯ PROSPERO CRD42021284947.
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Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors associated with the development of cardiovascular disease and increased all-cause mortality. Data examining the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians are limited. ⋯ EMS clinicians had a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome at an early age, and had a higher adjusted odds of having metabolic syndrome compared to firefighters.
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There is limited research available on safe medication management practices in emergency medical services (EMS) practice, with most evidence-based medication safety guidelines based on research in nursing, operating theater and pharmacy settings. Prevention of errors requires recognition of contributing factors across the spectrum from the organizational level to procedural elements and patient characteristics. Evidence is inconsistent regarding the incidence of medication errors and multiple sources also state that errors are under-reported, making the true magnitude of the problem difficult to quantify. Definitions of error also vary, with the specific context of medication errors in prehospital practice yet to be established. The objective of this review is to identify the factors influencing the occurrence of medication errors by EMS personnel in the prehospital environment. ⋯ The body of evidence regarding medication errors is heterogenous and limited in both quantity and quality. Multiple factors influence medication error occurrence; knowledge of these is necessary to mitigate the risk of errors. Medication error incidence is difficult to quantify due to inconsistent measure, definitions and contexts of research conducted to date. Further research is required to quantify the prevalence of identified factors in specific practice settings.
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Multiple national organizations and federal agencies have promoted the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based guidelines (EBGs) for prehospital care. Previous efforts have identified opportunities to improve the quality of prehospital guidelines and highlighted the value of high-quality EBGs to inform initial certification and continued competency activities for EMS personnel. ⋯ This interval systematic review of prehospital EBGs identified many new guidelines relevant to prehospital care; more than all guidelines reported in a prior systematic review. Our review reveals important gaps in the quality of guideline development and the content in their publications, evidenced by the low proportion of guidelines meeting NAM criteria and the scores across AGREE II domains. Efforts to increase guideline dissemination, implementation, and related education may be best focused around the highest quality guidelines identified in this review.
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As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end, the US military has begun to transition to the multi-domain operations concept with preparation for large scale combat operations against a near-peer adversary. In large scale combat operations, the deployed trauma system will likely see challenges not experienced during the Global War on Terrorism. The development of science and technology will be critical to close existing capability gaps and optimize casualty survival. ⋯ This capability approximates a small community hospital with the primary difference being limited patient holding capacity and reduced diagnostic equipment. The Role 3 field hospital is the largest military treatment facility in the deployed setting. The Role 3 approximates a civilian level 2 trauma center with smaller holding capabilities and diagnostic abilities limited to that of a computed tomography (CT) scanner and less.