Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors
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The Prehospital Care Research Forum sponsors both oral and poster presentations of emergency medical services (EMS) research in conjunction with JEMS Corporation's annual EMS Today Conference. Attendance at the research presentations, historically, has been poor. This descriptive study was designed to measure the readability of the Prehospital Care Research Forum abstracts in order to determine whether the abstracts are difficult to read, and thus are a deterrent to attendance at the oral and poster research presentations. ⋯ The abstracts for the Prehospital Care Research Forum presentations are not overly difficult to read. It is unlikely that readability of the abstracts is a factor in the interest, or lack of interest, in the proceedings of the Prehospital Care Research Forum.
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To determine the accuracy of acute stroke identification by paramedics in an urban emergency medical services system. ⋯ Paramedics in San Francisco County were correct three-fourths of the time when their documentation listed patients as having stroke/TIA. However, they did not identify 39% of stroke victims, a patient population who may benefit from urgent therapy. A substantial period elapses before stroke victims access 911. This highlights the need to develop an educational program for the community at risk for stroke, and another for paramedics directed toward more accurate identification of acute stroke victims.
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The purpose of a curfew is to decrease the amount of crime inflicted on minors during the late hours of the night. On June 1, 1994, a city curfew was instituted in New Orleans, requiring all persons 17 years of age or younger to be off the streets from 9 PM to 6 AM Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 PM to 6 AM on Friday and Saturday. This study evaluated the effect of the curfew on emergency medical services (EMS) transports for patients who were 17 years old or younger (pediatric). ⋯ The institution of a curfew may lead to a drop in pediatric EMS runs during curfew hours. Another value of the curfew may be in the secondary effects of the curfew in preventing childhood injury during noncurfew hours.
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This retrospective study was designed to determine the choice of airway devices used for nontraumatic, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients and to evaluate the success and failure of insertion and airway control/ventilation by three airway adjuncts, the Combitube, the esophageal gastric tube airway (EGTA), and the laryngeal mask (LM), which were used in conjunction with the bag-valve-mask (BVM) by emergency life-saving technicians (ELSTs) in Japan. ⋯ The Combitube appears to be the most appropriate choice among the airway devices examined. However, serious injuries to the tissues, though they rarely occurred in the study, remain a major concern.