The Medizinercorps Graz: a 120-year-old institution of emergency medicine.

One year after the establishment of the rescue service of Graz, Austria, in 1889, twelve young medical students were recruited because of the lack of accredited physicians for emergency care, leading to the foundation of the Medizinercorps Graz. This concept of involving medical students in prehospital emergency care has been retained for more than 120 years, and today the Medizinercorps is integrated into the local Red Cross branch, staffing two emergency ambulance vehicles. The responsible medical officer is called Rettungsmediziner and is an advanced medical student with a specialized emergency medical training of more than 3,000 hours, comprising theoretical lectures; in-hospital clerkships in anesthesia, internal medicine, and surgery; manikin training; and hands-on peer-to-peer teaching during assignments.

Cardiac movement identified on prehospital echocardiography predicts outcome in cardiac arrest patients.

Introduction: The prognostic value of emergency echocardiography (EE) in the management of cardiac arrest patients has previously been studied in an in-hospital setting. These studies mainly included patients who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by emergency medicine technicians at the scene and who arrived at the emergency department (ED) still in a state of cardiac arrest. In most European countries, cardiac arrest patients are normally treated by physician-staffed emergency medical services (EMS) teams on scene.

Arterial line in prehospital emergency settings - A feasibility study in four physician-staffed emergency medical systems.

Background And Aim Of The Study: Arterial lines are widely used in operating rooms, critical care and emergency departments. Although invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring and arterial blood gas analysis are prehospitally available, the use of arterial lines in the field remains an exception. This study evaluates the feasibility, indications and therapeutic consequences of prehospital arterial line insertion.

Tight control of effectiveness of cardiac massage with invasive blood pressure monitoring during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The continuity of chest compression is the main challenge in prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the field as well as during transport. Invasive blood pressure monitoring with visible pulse waves by means of an arterial line set prehospitally allows for tight control of the effectiveness of chest compressions as well as of the impact of the administered epinephrine and also captures beginning fatigue of the rescuers. In this case, maintaining uninterrupted circulation through manual as well as mechanical chest compressions continued until the successful percutaneous coronary intervention saved the patients life without neurologic damage.

Prehospital lung ultrasound in the distinction between pulmonary edema and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We present 2 cases of dyspneic patients, where prehospital lung ultrasound helped to distinguish between pulmonary edema and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.