Exposure to carbon monoxide for patients and providers in an urban emergency medical service.

Background: Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning poses danger to both patients and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, as its symptoms are nonspecific and EMS is currently not equipped to detect CO in ambient air.

Objective: We aimed to assess the degree of non-fire-related CO exposure at the high-volume EMS system of a city with 2 million inhabitants.

Methods: The EMS system was equipped with handheld CO detectors (Dräger Pac 3500), which were added to EMS standard backpacks and had to be carried to the patient at all times.