Paramedic

INTRODUCTION: Australian rural and remote areas are faced with the double burden of an ageing population paired with inequitable access to health resources due to the paradigm of major city centred health care. This complicates fall management within this space. Paramedics are a registered health profession, which provides mobile, equitable health care. However, this resource is not being effectively utilised in rural and remote areas where primary care access barriers may cause patient needs to go unmet...

OBJECTIVES: Allied Health Professionals (AHP) consist of 13 different specialty roles in Wales, sharing the responsibility of promoting and supporting the health and well-being of the population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shift in care provision, with the increased use of online consultations, such as those using video consultation platforms. However, this shift was associated with uncertainty and hesitancy, and, thus, to understand the usage and reasons for using video consultations, this study aimed to capture the experiences of both AHP and their patients, while investigating each role individually...

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) describes a program in which students learn from students from the same health discipline. This teaching method has gained significant momentum over the past decade as an effective learning strategy for undergraduate healthcare students. Paramedic programs are increasingly utilizing PAL, however there is a scarcity of literature about interprofessional PAL, particularly between Paramedics and allied health students. This project was an evaluation of a pilot educational intervention involving final year undergraduate paramedic students...

BACKGROUND: Although airway management for paramedics has moved away from endotracheal intubation towards extraglottic airway devices in recent years, in the context of COVID-19, endotracheal intubation has seen a revival. Endotracheal intubation has been recommended again under the assumption that it provides better protection against aerosol liberation and infection risk for care providers than extraglottic airway devices accepting an increase in no-flow time and possibly worsen patient outcomes...

Traumatic spinal epidural hematoma (TSEH) is a rare neurosurgical emergency. Our case report centers around a young 34-year-old female brought into our emergency department after a front and rear motor vehicle collision. Clinical deterioration and imaging studies revealed a large spinal epidural hematoma extending from levels C5 to T2. The patient was subsequently transferred to a different hospital for further management. This case involved a multidisciplinary approach by the combined effort of emergency medicine physicians, neurosurgeons, orthopedic trauma surgeons, general surgeons, radiologists, intensive care specialists, anesthesiologists, paramedics and nurses...

Nightshift work disturbs the circadian rhythm, which might contribute to the development of cardio-metabolic disorders. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to gain insight into perturbations of disease relevant metabolic pathways due to nightshift work. We characterized the metabolic profiles of 237 female nurses and paramedic staff participating in the Klokwerk study using the Nightingale Health platform. We performed analyses on plasma levels of 225 metabolites, including cholesterol, triglycerides, fatty acids, and amino acids...

OBJECTIVES: A significant proportion of healthcare workers (HCWs) had been infected with SARS-CoV-2, which complicated the organization of patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the exact scale of infection prevalence among the group of HCWs is not known, therefore this study aimed to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs in the Silesian voivodeship, Poland, and to define its determinants. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted in 2 multidisciplinary hospitals in the Silesian voivodeship during the period October 2021-February 2022...

BACKGROUND: The Resuscitation Quality Improvement® (RQI®) HeartCode© Complete program is designed to enhance cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training by using real-time feedback manikins. Our objective was to assess the quality of CPR, such as chest compression rate, depth, and fraction, performed on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients among paramedics trained with the RQI program vs. paramedics who were not. METHODS AND RESULTS: Adult OHCA cases from 2021 were analyzed; 353 OHCA cases were classified into one of three groups: 1) 0 RQI®-trained paramedics, 2) 1 RQI®-trained paramedic, and 3) 2-3 RQI®-trained paramedics...

Ambulance personnel are among the groups with high mental health risks. This study aims to investigate the role of managerial support in determining the mental well-being of ambulance personnel, a group at high risk for mental health issues. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was conducted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in February 2022, involving a convenience sample of 354 ambulance personnel. An online survey was distributed via social media platforms. Manager behavior and mental well-being were assessed using the Manager Behavior Questionnaire (MBQ) and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS)...

Technology-enhanced hospital-at-home ([email protected]), commonly referred to as hybrid [email protected], became more widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted focus group interviews with Mayo Clinic staff members (n = 14) delivering hybrid [email protected] in three separate locations-a rural community health system (Northwest Wisconsin), the nation's largest city by area (Jacksonville, FL), and a desert metropolitan area (Scottsdale, AZ)-to understand staff experiences with implementing a new care delivery model and using new technology to monitor patients at home during the pandemic...

Background: Moral injury (MI) has become a research and organizational priority as frontline personnel have, both during and in the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, raised concerns about repeated expectations to make choices that transgress their deeply held morals, values, and beliefs. As awareness of MI grows, so, too, does attention on its presence and impacts in related occupations such as those in public safety, given that codes of conduct, morally and ethically complex decisions, and high-stakes situations are inherent features of such occupations...

INTRODUCTION: Hospitalization due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) is a proxy measure for access to primary care. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are increasingly called when primary care cannot be accessed. A novel paramedic-nurse EMS Mobile Care Team (MCT) was implemented in an under-serviced community. The MCT responds in a non-transport unit to referrals from EMS, emergency and primary care, and to low-acuity 911 calls in a defined geographic region. Our objective was to compare the prevalence of ACSC in ground ambulance (GA) responses before and after the introduction of the MCT...

BACKGROUND: With asymmetrical conflicts ongoing, many countries have an increasing number of major trauma events but limited capacity to cope with these events. Training for such events comprises primarily of simulations requiring significant resources, time consuming and expensive. Virtual patients are defined as computer-based programs presenting authentic cases and supports training in trauma management. HYPOTHESIS: Assisted learning technologies augment simulated trauma team training and can improve trauma team competencies...

Background Of the more than 250 000 emergency medical services-treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur each year in the United States, only about 8% survive to hospital discharge with good neurologic function. Treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest involves a system of care that includes complex interactions among multiple stakeholders. Understanding the factors inhibiting optimal care is fundamental to improving outcomes. Methods and Results We conducted group interviews with emergency responders including 911 telecommunicators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and transporting emergency medical services personnel (ie, emergency medical technicians and paramedics) who responded to the same out-of-hospital cardiac arrest incident...

BACKGROUND: Prehospital care including recognition of stroke symptoms by the public and professionals combined with an efficient and effective emergency medical service (EMS) is essential to increase access to effective acute stroke care. We undertook a survey to document the status of stroke prehospital care globally. METHODS: A survey was distributed via email to the World Stroke Organisation (WSO) members. Information was sought on the current status of stroke prehospital delay globally including 1) ambulance availability and whether payment for use is required, 2) ambulance response times and the proportion of patients arriving at hospital by ambulance, 3) the proportion of patients arriving within 3 hours and more than 24 hours after symptom, 4) whether stroke care training of paramedics, call handlers and primary care staff, 5) availability of specialist centers, and 6) the proportion of patients taken to specialist centers...

OBJECTIVE: In health care, learning and collaboration between professions are crucial in providing patient-centered, responsive, and high-quality care. Given that interprofessional learning can occur indirectly while working but is scarcely studied in the context of prehospital emergency care, we examined the maintenance and development of paramedic competence on joint emergency medical service (EMS) and helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) missions. METHODS: Qualitative methodology was chosen...

OBJECTIVE: The current research was performed to assess professional quality of life; identify factors associated with secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion satisfaction; and evaluate the effectiveness of a peer support pilot intervention among air medical crewmembers. METHODS: Quantitative research methods were used to assess secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, and burnout among flight nurses and paramedics. Demographic variables and secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion satisfaction scores using the Professional Quality of Life Scale were assessed...

The early use of helicopters on the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam led to the introduction of "air ambulances" into civilian practice. Initially, these aircraft were tasked to retrieve casualties and provide conventional paramedic care at the scene and en route to the hospital. The introduction of advanced medical teams on helicopters led to the evolution of helicopter emergency medical service units. Yoseftal Hospital is a 65-bed hospital serving the town of Eilat in southern Israel. It does not offer full intensive care or specialist services but does provide general surgical, medical, pediatric, and psychiatric services...

BACKGROUND: During the prehospital phase, paramedics consider patients' condition according to illness, injury, disease and decide on transport to an appropriate hospital according to severity. This can affect patient survival and treatment prognosis, because despite intervention at this early stage, problems such as incorrect triage of severity and inappropriate hospital selection may occur, indicating a need for improvement in the process. PURPOSE: The aim of this review is to identify the overall trend of research conducted on prehospital triage by analyzing the emergency medical services system and presenting future studies to practitioners and researchers...

BACKGROUND: Paramedicine presents students with numerous challenges, including factors threatening their wellbeing. Over the last two decades studies have illustrated that paramedics and paramedic students are more likely to have mental disorders than the general population. These findings suggest that course-related factors could be important in contributing to poorer mental health. However, few studies have examined factors related to stress in paramedic students, and none of these have included paramedic students from cross-culture...