Paediatric procedural sedation and analgesia by emergency physicians in a country with a recent establishment of emergency medicine.

Objectives: Paediatric patients receive less procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) in the emergency department compared with adults, especially in countries where emergency medicine is at an early stage of development. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the adverse events and efficacy of paediatric PSA in a country with a recent establishment of emergency medicine and to describe which factors aided implementation.

Methods: This is a prospective, multicentre, observational study of paediatric patients undergoing PSA by the first trained emergency physicians (EPs) in The Netherlands.

Prehospital antibiotics in the ambulance for sepsis: a multicentre, open label, randomised trial.

Background: Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel have already made substantial contributions to improving care for patients with time-dependent illnesses, such as trauma and myocardial infarction. Patients with sepsis could also benefit from timely prehospital care.

Methods: After training EMS personnel in recognising sepsis, we did a randomised controlled open-label trial in ten large regional ambulance services serving 34 secondary and tertiary care hospitals in the Netherlands.

Study protocol for a Multi-centre, Investigator-initiated, Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare the Effects of Prehospital Antibiotic Treatment for Sepsis Patients with Usual Care after Training Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Personnel in Early Recognition (- The Prehospital ANTibiotics Against Sepsis (PHANTASi) trial.

Sepsis is one of the most frequent reasons for referral to emergency departments (EDs) worldwide. Sepsis becomes more serious when left untreated with a high mortality rate, exceeding even those of myocardial infarction and stroke. Therefore, much effort has been put in to start with appropriate therapy as early as possible.

Procedural sedation in the emergency department by Dutch emergency physicians: a prospective multicentre observational study of 1711 adults.

Objective: To describe our experience performing ED procedural sedation in a country where emergency medicine (EM) is a relatively new specialty.

Methods: This is a prospective observational study of adult patients undergoing procedural sedation by emergency physicians (EPs) or EM residents in eight hospitals in the Netherlands. Data were collected on a standardised form, including patient characteristics, sedative and analgesic used, procedural success, adverse events (classified according to World SIVA) and rescue interventions.