Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Oct 2018
Observational StudyInitial assessment, level of care and outcome among children who were seen by emergency medical services: a prospective observational study.
The assessment of children in the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is infrequent representing 5.4% of the patients in an urban area in the western part of Sweden. In Sweden, patients are assessed on scene by an EMS nurse whom independently decides on interventions and level of care. To aid the EMS nurse in the assessment a triage instrument, Rapid Emergency Triage and Treatment System-paediatrics (RETTS-p) developed for Emergency Department (ED) purpose has been in use the last 5 years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the EMS nurse assessment, management, the utilisation of RETTS-p and patient outcome. ⋯ Despite the incomplete use of all vital signs according to the RETTS-p, the EMS nurse assessment of children appears to be adapted to the clinical situation in most cases and the patients appear to be assessed to the appropriate level of care but indicating an over triage. It seems that the RETTS-p with full triage is used selectively in the pre-hospital assessment of children with a risk of death during the first 30 days of less than 1%.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Oct 2018
Structured analysis, evaluation and report of the emergency response to a terrorist attack in Wuerzburg, Germany using a new template of standardised quality indicators.
Until now there has been a reported lack of systematic reports and scientific evaluations of rescue missions during terror attacks. This however is urgently required in order to improve the performance of emergency medical services and to be able to compare different missions with each other. Aim of the presented work was to report the systematic evaluation and the lessons learned from the response to a terror attack that happened in Wuerzburg, Germany in 2016. ⋯ According to a systematic evaluation, we defined the lessons learned from a terror attack in 2016. Further systematic reports and academic work surrounding life threatening rescue missions and mass killing incidents are needed in order to ultimately improve such mission outcomes. In the future, a close international collaboration might help to find the best database to report and evaluate major incidents but also mass killing events.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Oct 2018
Review Meta AnalysisThe effect of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
For many years, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BCPR) has been considered as a favorable factor to improve survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs). To examine the effect of BCPR on the survival of OHCAs and whether BCPR might also improve survival when the initial rhythm of OHCAs is limited, we performed a meta-analysis on published observational studies. ⋯ Based on currently available evidence, the findings of this meta-analysis suggest that BCPR increases the survival of OHCAs, and it also help OHCAs whose initial rhythm is shockable. That is to say BCPR is also helpful when emergency department response time is short. Therefore global priority should be given to increasing the incidence of BCPR by evidence-based best practice.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Sep 2018
Cardiac arrest teams perspectives on communication and ethical conflicts related to awareness during CPR, a focus group study protocol.
Awareness during Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) also called CPR induced consciousness (CPRIC) is a rare, but increasingly reported condition with significant clinical implications. Health professionals lack guidelines about patients with CPRIC, and to this date, no studies have addressed the complexity of communication and ethical aspects when continuing CPR while the patient is conscious. ⋯ Previous studies have suggested that external stressors affect the performance of a Cardiac arrest team. As a result of our analysis, we will aim to describe communicative and ethical challenges and concerns regarding awareness during CPR. Recent studies in the area point to a desire for guidelines and we hope to contribute with knowledge, that can inform the further process when developing guidelines and training team members to handle these stressful and important cases.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Sep 2018
Observational StudyA novel method of non-clinical dispatch is associated with a higher rate of critical Helicopter Emergency Medical Service intervention.
Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) are a scarce resource that can provide advanced emergency medical care to unwell or injured patients. Accurate tasking of HEMS is required to incidents where advanced pre-hospital clinical care is needed. We sought to evaluate any association between non-clinically trained dispatchers, following a bespoke algorithm, compared with HEMS paramedic dispatchers with respect to incidents requiring a critical HEMS intervention. ⋯ The introduction of non-clinical, HEMS-specific dispatch, aided by a bespoke algorithm improved accuracy of HEMS tasking. Further research is warranted to explore where this model could be effective in other HEMS services.