Articles: emergency-medical-services.
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The records of all patients who presented to a Level 1 trauma center during a two-year period for whom a prehospital cricothyrotomy was attempted or ordered were reviewed. Twenty patients met the study criteria. The average age was 37 years (range, 11 to 65 years). ⋯ These preliminary findings demonstrate that prehospital cricothyrotomy is being used chiefly in massively injured patients who are already beyond recovery. It is thus difficult to assess whether the procedure is either safe or effective. There is a need for further investigation to determine whether prehospital cricothyrotomy has any beneficial effect on outcome and, if so, in what setting.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Swiss medical weekly · Feb 1990
[Transportation of patients in the prehospital phase: education of physicians].
Pre-hospital emergency medicine is developing in Switzerland. At present, however, there is no training standard for this specific and sometimes confusing aspect of extra-hospital activity. ⋯ The training programs of fourteen Swiss hospitals which cooperate with ambulance or helicopter rescue services are then presented. An enquiry by the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) among 46 physicians participating regularly in Swiss Air Rescue (REGA) helicopter operations shows the very varied pathology involved and the problems encountered in creating a training program of this kind.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 1990
Emergency medical services legal issues for the emergency physician.
This article discusses the elements of the legal system that impact emergency physicians and their legal responsibilities. It addresses the specific responsibilities of the emergency physician providing on-line direction to EMS units in the field, and the legal principles that control. Special emphasis is placed on compliance with new federal legislation and addressing medical-legal issues presented by field personnel during patient care situations.