Legendary EMS Lit

BACKGROUND: The use of automated external defibrillators by persons other than paramedics and emergency medical technicians is advocated by the American Heart Association and other organizations. However, there are few data on the outcomes when the devices are used by nonmedical personnel for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. METHODS: We studied a prospective series of cases of sudden cardiac arrest in casinos. Casino security officers were instructed in the use of automated external defibrillators...

Out-of-hospital emergency care was designed around the concept of a system of interrelated events that combine to offer a patient the best care possible outside the hospital. However, in contrast to the actual operations of emergency medical service (EMS) systems, research has not typically used systems-based models as the method for evaluation. In this discussion we outline the weaknesses of component-based research models in EMS evaluation and attempt to provide a "systems-analysis" framework that can be used for future research...