Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2016
An epidemiological approach to mass casualty incidents in the Principality of Asturias (Spain).
Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) have been rarely studied from epidemiological approaches. The objective of this study is to establish the epidemiological profile of MCI in the autonomous region of the Principality of Asturias (Spain) and analyse ambulance deployment and severity of patients. ⋯ Road traffic accidents with minor injured patients are the most frequent MCI in our region. More advanced life support units than needed have been initially deployed, which might compromise response to daily emergencies during an MCI.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2016
Observational StudyA reliability study of the rapid emergency triage and treatment system for children.
To evaluate inter- and intrarater reliability of a new Scandinavian triage system for children, the Rapid Emergency Triage and Treatment System-pediatric (RETTS-p). ⋯ RETTS-p may be a credible and robust triage system, but it has not been validated yet.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2016
Review Case ReportsAn evaluation of the Swiss staging model for hypothermia using case reports from the literature.
Core body temperature is used to stage and guide the management of hypothermic patients, however obtaining accurate measurements of core temperature is challenging, especially in the pre-hospital context. The Swiss staging model for hypothermia uses clinical indicators to stage hypothermia. The proposed temperature range for clinical stage 1 is <35-32 °C (95-90 °F), for stage 2, <32-28 °C (<90-82 °F) for stage 3, <28-24 °C (<82-75 °F), and for stage 4 below 24 °C (75 °F). However, the evidence relating these temperature ranges to the clinical stages needs to be strengthened. ⋯ Predicting core body temperature using clinical indicators is a difficult task. Despite the inherent limitations of our study, it increases the strength of the evidence linking the clinical hypothermia stage to core temperature. Decreasing the thresholds of temperatures distinguishing the different stages would allow a reduction in the number of cases where body temperature is overestimated, avoiding some potentially negative consequences for the management of hypothermic patients.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2016
Dyspnea, a high-risk symptom in patients suspected of myocardial infarction in the ambulance? A population-based follow-up study.
Systematic management of patients suffering high-risk symptoms is essential in emergency medical services. Patients with chest pain receive algorithm-based work-up and treatment. Though dyspnea is recognized as an independent predictor of mortality, no generally accepted prehospital treatment algorithm exists and this may affect outcome. The objective of this study was to compare mortality in patients suspected of myocardial infarction (MI) presenting with dyspnea versus chest pain in the ambulance. ⋯ Patients suspected of MI presenting with dyspnea have significantly higher short- and long-term mortality than patients with chest pain irrespective of a confirmed MI diagnosis. Future studies should examine if supplementary prehospital diagnostics can improve triage, facilitate early therapy and improve outcome in patients presenting with dyspnea.