The Effect of emergency medical systems on prehospital cardiovascular care : an evaluation of studies and an inventory of data bases.

"DOT HS805 204."

Implementation of evidence into practice : Development of a tool to improve emergency nursing care of acute stroke

Background
Stroke is an increasing global health issue that places considerable burden on society and health care services. An important part of acute stroke management and decreasing stroke-related mortality is preventing complications within the first 24–48 hours. The current climate of prolonged time spent in the Emergency Department (ED) means that many aspects of stroke management are now the responsibility of emergency nurses.

Aims
The aims of this paper are to: i) examine the evidence related to nursing care of acute stroke, ii) identify evidence-based elements of stroke care with most applicability to emergency nursing and iii) use evidence-based stroke care recommendations to develop a guideline for the emergency nursing management of acute stroke.

Results
Emergency nursing care of acute stroke should focus on optimal triage decisions, physiological surveillance, fluid management, risk management, and early referral to specialists.

Conclusions
The role of emergency nurses in stroke care will increase and it is important that emergency nurses deliver evidence-based stroke care in order to optimise patient outcomes. Guidelines and decision support tools for use in emergency nursing must be practical and have high levels of clinical utility for maximum uptake in a busy clinical environment.

Frequency and nature of reported incidents during emergency department care

Background The aim of this study was to examine reported incidents affecting Emergency Department (ED) episodes of care.
Methods A retrospective audit of ED patients was carried out in an urban district hospital in Melbourne, Australia from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008. The main outcome measure was presence or absence of reported patient-related incident(s) during ED care.
Results There were 984 patient-related incidents (n¼984) during 2008.The most common incidents were related to patient behaviour (66.4%), patient management (10.1%) and medications (6.5%). Patients whose ED care involved reported incident(s) were older, had higher triage categories, longer length of ED stay and were more likely to need hospital admission or leave at their own risk. Eighteen per cent of reported incidents occurred in patients aged 65 years and over. Incidents affecting older patients were more likely to be related to breach of skin integrity, patient management, diagnosis and patient identification, and less likely to involve patient behaviour.
Conclusions Reported incident(s) occurred in 0.47% of ED episodes of care. Differences in personal and clinical characteristics of patients whose ED care involved reported incident(s) highlights the need for better understanding of incidents occurring in the ED in order to improve systems for high-risk patients.

Physiological status during emergency department care : relationship with inhospital death after clinical deterioration

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between patient physiological status in the emergency department (ED) and inhospital mortality after rapid response team (RRT) or cardiac arrest team (CAT) activations within 72 hours of emergency admission to medical or surgical wards. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A multisite, retrospective, cohort study of 660 randomly selected (220 patients per site) adult medical or surgical patients who were admitted from the ED during 2012 and who had had an RRT or CAT activation within 72 hours of admission, at three hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Inhospital mortality. RESULTS: There were 825 RRT activations (for 634 patients) and 42 CAT activations (for 35 patients). The median time to the first RRT or CAT activation was 18.8 hours and was significantly shorter in patients who died in hospital (14.6 v 20.6 hours, P=0.036). Compared with survivors, patients who died were more likely to have at least one observation meeting RRT criteria during their ED stay (45.9% v 34.8%; P=0.029): tachypnoea (21.1% v 13.4%, P=0.039), hypotension (20.2% v 11.8%, P=0.018), hypoxaemia (8.3% v 3.1%, P=0.001) and altered conscious state (6.2% v 1.3%, P=0.001) were more common in patients who died. The risk-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for inhospital death was highest for patients with an altered conscious state during their ED stay (OR, 4.633; 95% CI, 1.365-15.728; P=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: In patients who needed an RRT or CAT activation within the first 72 hours of emergency admission to medical or surgical wards, there was a strong association between physiological derangement during ED care and inhospital death.

Emergency health care assessment in the Houston-Galveston region 2002--2006

Background. Previous studies show emergency rooms to be over crowded nation wide. With growing attention to this problem, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) initiated a study in 2005 to assess their region's emergency health care system, and continued this effort in 2007. The purpose of this study was to examine recent changes in volume, capacity and performance in the Houston-Galveston region's emergency health care system and determine whether the system has been able to effectively respond to the residents' demands. Methods. Data were collected by the Houston-Galveston Area Council and The Abaris Group using a self-administered 2002-2006 survey completed by administrators of the region's hospitals, EMS providers, and select fire departments that provide EMS services. Data from both studies were combined and matched to examine trends. Results. Volume increased among the reporting hospitals within the Houston-Galveston region from 2002 to 2006; however, capacity remained relatively unchanged. EMS providers reported higher average off load times in 2007 compared to 2005, but the increases were not statistically significant. Hospitals reported transferring a statistically significant greater percentage of patients in 2006 than 2004. There was no statistically significant change in any of the other measures. Conclusion. These findings indicate an increase in demand for the Houston-Galveston region's emergency healthcare services with no change in supply. Additional studies within the area are needed to fully assess and evaluate the impact of these changes on system performance. ^

Emergency Obstetric Care: Strategy for Reducing Maternal Mortality in Developing Countries

Twenty-five years have passed since the global community agreed in Nairobi to address the high maternal mortality by implementing the Safe Motherhood Initiative. However, every year nearly three million women die due to pregnancy related causes. This tragedy is avoidable if women have timely access to required emergency obstetric care. Emergency obstetric care refers to life-saving services for maternal and neonatal complications provided by skilled health workers. Since the beginning of the 1980’s, several efforts have been intensified to improve maternal and child health status and reducing the high morbidity and mortality. There was built on a worldwide consensus to provide improved maternal and child health care for addressing the high morbidity and mortality. All participant countries agreed to integrate emergency obstetric care services in their national health care system. Emergency obstetric care is one of the strategies for reducing the maternal mortality as pregnancy related complications are unpredictable. However, many women in developing countries do not have access to essential health care services including emergency obstetric care. Basic emergency obstetric care by skilled birth attendants or timely referral for further comprehensive emergency obstetric care can reduce maternal deaths and disabilities significantly. This paper is based on the results published in PubMed, Medline, Lancet, WHO and Google Scholar web pages from 1990 to 2013.

""Star of Life" - emergency medical care symbol: background, specifications, and criteria.

Mode of access: Internet.

First responders emergency medical care training: CIM course revision. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

"Star of Life", emergency medical care symbol : background, specifications, and criteria.

Mode of access: Internet.

Rhythm Analysis during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Past, Present, and Future

Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest depends largely on two factors: early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and early defibrillation. CPR must be interrupted for a reliable automated rhythm analysis because chest compressions induce artifacts in the ECG. Unfortunately, interrupting CPR adversely affects survival. In the last twenty years, research has been focused on designing methods for analysis of ECG during chest compressions. Most approaches are based either on adaptive filters to remove the CPR artifact or on robust algorithms which directly diagnose the corrupted ECG. In general, all the methods report low specificity values when tested on short ECG segments, but how to evaluate the real impact on CPR delivery of continuous rhythm analysis during CPR is still unknown. Recently, researchers have proposed a new methodology to measure this impact. Moreover, new strategies for fast rhythm analysis during ventilation pauses or high-specificity algorithms have been reported. Our objective is to present a thorough review of the field as the starting point for these late developments and to underline the open questions and future lines of research to be explored in the following years.

Fatiga del reanimador y calidad de las compresiones torácicas en niños con y sin vía aérea asegurada

Introducción: La calidad de las compresiones torácicas tiene importancia durante la reanimación pediátrica y se ve afectada por diversos factores como la fatiga del reanimador, esta puede verse condicionada por las características de las compresiones establecidas según la presencia o ausencia de un dispositivo avanzado en la vía aérea determinando la interrupción continuidad de las mismas. En este estudio se realizó una simulación clínica, evaluando la presencia de fatiga del reanimador frente a pacientes con y sin dispositivo avanzado de la vía aérea. Metodología: Se incluyeron 12 participantes, quienes realizaron compresiones torácicas a un simulador clínico, tanto para el caso de la maniobra 1 correspondiente a ciclos interrumpidos con el fin de proporcionar ventilaciones, como para el caso de la maniobra 2 en la que la actividad fue continua. Se midieron calidad de compresiones, VO2 max y fatiga mediante escala de Borg RPE 6-20. Resultados: La calidad de las compresiones disminuyó en ambos grupos después del minuto 2 y más rápidamente cuando fueron ininterrumpidas. La fatiga se incrementó cuando las compresiones fueron continuas. Discusión: Se evidencia una relación directamente proporcional del aumento de la fatiga en relación al tiempo de reanimación e inversamente proporcional entre la calidad de las compresiones y la sensación de cansancio, en especial después del minuto 2. Un tiempo de 2 minutos podría ser el tiempo ideal para lograr compresiones de calidad y para realizar el reemplazo de la persona que realiza las compresiones.

Anticipated behaviours of emergency prehospital medical care providers during an influenza pandemic

Introduction: Emergency prehospital medical care providers are frontline health workers during emergencies. However, little is known about their attitudes, perceptions, and likely behaviors during emergency conditions. Understanding these attitudes and behaviors is crucial to mitigating the psychological and operational effects of biohazard events such as pandemic influenza, and will support the business continuity of essential prehospital services. ----- ----- Problem: This study was designed to investigate the association between knowledge and attitudes regarding avian influenza on likely behavioral responses of Australian emergency prehospital medical care providers in pandemic conditions. ----- ----- Methods: Using a reply-paid postal questionnaire, the knowledge and attitudes of a national, stratified, random sample of the Australian emergency prehospital medical care workforce in relation to pandemic influenza were investigated. In addition to knowledge and attitudes, there were five measures of anticipated behavior during pandemic conditions: (1) preparedness to wear personal protective equipment (PPE); (2) preparedness to change role; (3) willingness to work; and likely refusal to work with colleagues who were exposed to (4) known and (5) suspected influenza. Multiple logistic regression models were constructed to determine the independent predictors of each of the anticipated behaviors, while controlling for other relevant variables. ----- ----- Results: Almost half (43%) of the 725 emergency prehospital medical care personnel who responded to the survey indicated that they would be unwilling to work during pandemic conditions; one-quarter indicated that they would not be prepared to work in PPE; and one-third would refuse to work with a colleague exposed to a known case of pandemic human influenza. Willingness to work during a pandemic (OR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.0–1.9), and willingness to change roles (OR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.04–2.0) significantly increased with adequate knowledge about infectious agents generally. Generally, refusal to work with exposed (OR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.3–0.7) or potentially exposed (OR = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.3–0.6) colleagues significantly decreased with adequate knowledge about infectious agents. Confidence in the employer’s capacity to respond appropriately to a pandemic significantly increased employee willingness to work (OR = 2.83; 95% CI = 1.9–4.1); willingness to change roles during a pandemic (OR = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.1–2.1); preparedness to wear PPE (OR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.1–2.5); and significantly decreased the likelihood of refusing to work with colleagues exposed to (suspected) influenza (OR = 0.59; 95% CI = 0.4–0.9). ----- ----- Conclusions:These findings indicate that education and training alone will not adequately prepare the emergency prehospital medical workforce for a pandemic. It is crucial to address the concerns of ambulance personnel and the perceived concerns of their relationship with partners in order to maintain an effective prehospital emergency medical care service during pandemic conditions.