Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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Our study details Online medical consultation (OLMC) usage for Pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (P-OHCA), including proportion of P-OHCA utilizing OLMC, the characteristics of cases using OLMC, the types of information exchanged during OLMC calls, and the outcomes in patients where Emergency Medical Services (EMS) contacted OLMC. ⋯ Pediatric-OHCA cases with OLMC tend to contact OLMC late in the resuscitation, have poor prognostic factors, and have poor survival outcomes. The information exchanged during OLMC calls was highly variable, representing a clear opportunity for improvement. Future studies should explore the potential effect of early OLMC contact on patient outcomes and if a standardized template for OLMC data exchange improves consistency in recommendations for P-OHCA.
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The delta shock index (ΔSI), defined as the change in shock index (SI) over time, is associated with hospital morbidity and mortality, but prehospital studies about ΔSI are limited. We investigate the association of prehospital ΔSI with mortality and resource utilization, hypothesizing that increases in SI among field trauma patients are associated with increased mortality and blood product transfusion. ⋯ An increase of greater than 0.1 in the ΔSI was associated with increased 28-day mortality; increased days in hospital, in ICU, and on ventilator; and increased need for blood product transfusion within 4 h of ED arrival. This association held true for initially normotensive patients. Validation and implementation are needed to incorporate ΔSI into prehospital and ED triage.
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The objective of this quality improvement (QI) study was to improve organizational learning from clinical debriefs known as "Coffee and Cases" (C&C) in a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) by increasing weekly learning summaries (LS) and documented learning points (DLP) as well as the dissemination thereof by at least 50% from baseline. ⋯ Recognizing barriers to effective knowledge creation and sharing, our QI study aimed to increase weekly DLPs and LSs by 50% from baseline. It aligned with the relationship between knowledge management and organizational learning, emphasizing the importance of utilizing knowledge for improved performance. Our interventions enhanced the learning environment, ensured robust capturing of learning points and effective communication thereof, ultimately contributing toward improving organizational dissemination of learning from clinical debriefs. Our QI study demonstrates how enhanced knowledge creation and sharing can widen the benefits of learning from clinical team debriefs.
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To investigate the benefits of virtual reality (VR) first-aid training in acquiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills. ⋯ Virtual reality training can significantly improve non-medical professional volunteers' CPR knowledge and skill levels, helping them master and maintain these competencies. However, a decrease in CPR knowledge and skills among the participants over time was observed after VR training, suggesting the need for further retraining sessions.
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Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a frequently encountered pathology with resultant poor outcomes in the majority of patients. Echocardiography has been utilized to help guide clinical decision making and monitor effectiveness of resuscitative efforts. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) the mainstay of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) real time resuscitative imaging has limitations, most notably is the disruption of closed chest compressions. Trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an emerging technology in emergency care and can potentially overcome these limitations but image quality and accuracy of use in the prehospital environment remains unknown. Our primary objective is to identify the accuracy of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fellow physicians in performing TEE via the identification of key cardiac structures. Secondarily we assess image quality as well as accuracy on cardiac activity interpretation as compared to TEE-experienced cardiologists. ⋯ In this small study of prehospital TEE, EMS fellow physicians had high inter-rater reliability in image interpretation pertaining to anatomy and cardiac activity when compared with cardiologists. Further research is needed to determine its efficacy, safety, and widespread application in the prehospital setting.