Prehospital Emergency Care

OBJECTIVES: Data suggest patients suffering acute coronary occlusion myocardial infarction (OMI) benefit from prompt primary percutaneous intervention (PPCI). Many emergency medical services (EMS) activate catheterization labs to reduce time to PPCI, but suffer a high burden of inappropriate activations. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms show promise to improve electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. The primary objective was to evaluate the potential of AI to reduce false positive activations without missing OMI...

A growing number of individuals with unmet mental health needs in the United States rely on emergency medical services during mental health crises, and 9-1-1 emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) are often a critical lifeline to help. Unfortunately, current industry-standard dispatching protocols and training required for EMD certification largely lack specificity for managing 9-1-1 calls related to mental health emergencies. The purpose of this report is to illustrate the value of additional targeted training for EMDs that enables them to more effectively assist callers struggling with mental illness or suicidal thoughts...

OBJECTIVES: Although the proximal tibia is a common site for intraosseous (IO) line placement in pediatric patients, previously published data indicate high malposition rates in infants and children at this location. Although distal femur IO lines generally demonstrate higher flow rates than those at the proximal tibia, to date, there have been no published studies assessing distal femur IO access in pediatric patients. Thus, we aimed to compare the success rates of pediatric IO line insertion attempts between the proximal tibia and the distal femur in a prehospital setting...

OBJECTIVES: Emergency Medical Services patients who survive overdose are at high risk for subsequent overdose and death. Programs that seek to link overdose survivors to harm reduction and treatment services are increasingly common, though they vary in design and measured effect. Public Health - Seattle & King County (PHSKC) used a continuous quality improvement (CQI) process to assess and improve a phone-based model for post-overdose outreach in King County, Washington. METHODS: King County Emergency Medical Services (KC-EMS) health records are queried weekly to identify suspected opioid overdose and other drug-related encounters...

OBJECTIVES: Elder mistreatment (EM), encompassing abuse and neglect, is a significant public health issue, affecting up to 10% of community-dwelling older adults annually. Elder mistreatment is a growing concern with a higher prevalence in institutional settings and substantial associated healthcare costs. Prehospital clinicians (PHCs) such as emergency medical technicians and paramedics are uniquely positioned to detect and report EM during their interactions with older adults in their homes...

OBJECTIVES: The use of methoxyflurane is becoming increasingly popular in the treatment of pain in an emergency setting, in part due to its ease of administration. However, little is known about the risk of serious adverse events in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the safety of methoxyflurane in a pediatric population. METHODS: The study was a retrospective cohort study of pediatric prehospital events using probabilistic linked health data...

OBJECTIVES : Many American police organizations respond to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This study sought to: 1) explore variation in the role of police in OHCA across emergency medical systems and 2) identify factors influencing this variation. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative multisite case study analysis using data collected through semi-structured key informant interviews and multidisciplinary focus groups with telecommunicators, fire, police, emergency medical services, and hospital personnel across nine Michigan emergency systems of care...

OBJECTIVES: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) is a promising treatment that could improve survival for refractory out-of-hospital (OHCA) patients. Healthcare systems may choose to start eCPR in the prehospital setting to optimize time to eCPR initiation and decrease low-flow time. We used geospatial modeling to evaluate different eCPR catchment strategies for a forthcoming prehospital eCPR program in Houston, Texas. METHODS: We studied OHCAs treated by the Houston Fire Department from 2013-2021...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the incidence of and modifiable risk factors for post intubation hemodynamic collapse in prehospital and interfacility critical care transport. METHODS: Single center retrospective chart review of adult patients (≥18 years) intubated by a critical care transport team between January 2017 and May 2023. The primary outcome was incidence of hemodynamic collapse (systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg for greater than 30 minutes, new vasopressor requirement, vasopressor dose increase, fluid bolus of >15 mL/kg, systolic blood pressure < 65 mmHg at least once, or cardiac arrest)...

OBJECTIVES: Disparities remain in survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) for women compared to men. Our objective was to evaluate differences in automated external defibrillator (AED) use before Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrival and time from arrival to initial EMS defibrillation by EMS-assessed gender (women or men). METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of adult non-traumatic, EMS-treated OHCA cases in the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry from 2018 to 2021...

OBJECTIVES: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is an Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) with the greatest risk of death and disability. Getting diagnosed patients rapid definitive treatment at the correct facility is crucial in improving their outcome. Using a Question-and-Answer algorithm (Mobile Priority Dispatch System (MPDS®)), trained Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) can help identifying STEMI at the time of dispatch. This can assist Emergency Medical Services (EMS) pre-planning transport to potential STEMI-receiving hospitals...

OBJECTIVES: Implementing prehospital blood products for treating hemorrhagic shock has been utilized globally in military and civilian settings. This review aims to compare various guidelines for using blood products, including the types of blood products, injuries, biomarkers (hemodynamic measurement) to indicate use, associated treatments and risks, and the logistical concerns of storage and wastage in the prehospital setting. Furthermore, it explores whether prehospital blood transfusions are beneficial and a safe treatment option...

OBJECTIVES: Transcutaneous cardiac pacing (TCP) is a potentially lifesaving therapy for patients who present in the prehospital setting with bradycardia that is causing hemodynamic compromise. Our objective was to examine the outcomes of patients who received prehospital TCP and identify predictors of TCP failure. METHODS: We utilized the 2018-2021 ESO Data Collaborative public use research datasets for this study. All patients without a documented TCP attempt were excluded...

OBJECTIVES: Early defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator (AED) can effectively improve the survival rate of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Placing AEDs in public locations can reduce the defibrillation response interval from collapse to defibrillation. Most public AEDs are currently placed in a stationary way (S-AED) with limited coverage area. Bus mounted AED (B-AED) can be delivered directly to the demand point. Although B-AEDs are only available during bus operating hours, they provide greater coverage area...

OBJECTIVES: Airway management is a fundamental skill that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians must be prepared to perform on patients of any age. We performed one of the first epidemiological studies of out-of-hospital pediatric airway management utilizing the ESO data set. METHODS: We used the 2019 ESO Data Collaborative public release research data set. We performed a descriptive analysis of all patients <18 years receiving at least one of the following airway management interventions: nasopharyngeal airway, oropharyngeal airway, non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV), airway suctioning, bag-valve-mask ventilation (BVM), tracheal intubation (TI), supraglottic airway (SGA) or surgical airway placement...

OBJECTIVES: Large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes may be eligible for treatment with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular therapy (EVT). Patients selected for treatment have better neurologic outcomes with EVT, and delays in this therapy lead to worse outcomes. However, EVT is offered at a limited number of hospitals, referred to as endovascular stroke centers (ESC). This poses a difficult decision for EMS: to take potential stroke patients to the closest primary stroke center (PSC) or longer transport time to a more distant ESC...

OBJECTIVES: The National Emergency Medical Services Information Services (NEMSIS) provides a robust set of data to evaluate prehospital care. However, a major limitation is that the vast majority of the records lack a definitive outcome. We aimed to evaluate the performance of a recently proposed method ('MLB' method) to impute missing end-of-EMS-event outcomes ("dead" or "alive") for patient care reports in the NEMSIS public research dataset. METHODS: This study reproduced the recently published method for patient outcome imputation in the NEMSIS database and replicated the results for years 2017 through 2022 (n = 686,075)...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and mental illness stigma among emergency medical service (EMS) clinicians. Despite the presence of mental health services at many EMS agencies, workers often do not seek treatment due to mental illness stigma. To facilitate treatment receipt and maintain a healthy workforce, we must understand factors contributing to stigma. Psychosocial safety climate refers to the degree to which workers perceive that their organization fosters a work environment focused on the protection of psychological health and safety...

OBJECTIVES: After identifying chest compression fraction (CCF) as a key area for improvement, our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agency aimed to improve our baseline monthly median CCF from 81.5% to 90% or more in paramedic-attended medical cardiac arrests by December 2023. The CCF is a process measure that, if improved, has been shown to increase likelihood of survival from cardiac arrest. Working as a hospital EMS agency within a large urban 9-1-1 system, our interventions focused on paramedics once they arrived on scene...

OBJECTIVE: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians desire performance feedback (PF) and patient outcome follow-up (POF). Within our agency, both a peer-review and feedback/outcome (PF/POF) process exist. Our objective was to determine whether receiving feedback and outcome data improved future clinical care amongst EMS, based upon peer-review scores. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study took place between 1/1/2020 and 6/7/2023 within an EMS agency site with 22,000 average annual 9-1-1 calls...