Disparities in Prehospital Non-Traumatic Pain Management.

While prior research has identified racial disparities in prehospital analgesia for traumatic pain, little is known about non-traumatic pain. Using a national prehospital dataset, we sought to evaluate for racial and ethnic disparities in analgesia given by EMS for non-traumatic pain. We analyzed the 2018 and 2019 data from the ESO Data Collaborative, a collection of de-identified prehospital electronic health records from nearly 1,300 participating EMS agencies in the US.

Prehospital Intranasal Glucagon for Hypoglycemia.

Background: Prehospital hypoglycemia is usually treated with oral or intravenous (IV) dextrose in a variety of concentrations. In the absence of vascular access, intramuscular (IM) glucagon is commonly administered. Occupational needle-stick injury remains a significant risk while attempting to obtain vascular access or administer medications intramuscularly in the prehospital setting.

The utility of computed tomography to evaluate thoracic complications after cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in adults following non-traumatic out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) can cause thoracic complications including rib fractures, sternal fractures, and pneumothorax. Post-CPR complication rates are poorly studied and the optimum imaging modality to detect these complications post-resuscitation has not been established.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of adult patients transported to a single, urban, academic hospital following atraumatic OHCA between September 2015 and January 2020.

Implementing a Patient Tracking System in a Large EMS System.

Accurate tracking of patients poses a significant challenge to prehospital and hospital emergency medical providers in planned and unplanned events. Previous reports on patient tracking systems are limited primarily to descriptive reports of post incident reviews or simulated exercises. Our objective is to report our experience with implementing a patient barcode tracking system during various planned events within a large urban EMS system.

Creation and Implementation of a Mastery Learning Curriculum for Emergency Department Thoracotomy.

Introduction: Emergency department thoracotomy (EDT) is a lifesaving procedure within the scope of practice of emergency physicians. Because EDT is infrequently performed, emergency medicine (EM) residents lack opportunities to develop procedural competency. There is no current mastery learning curriculum for residents to learn EDT.

Emergency Department Thoracotomy: Development of a Reliable, Validated Checklist for Procedural Training.

Objectives: Emergency department thoracotomy (EDT) is a rare and challenging procedure. Emergency medicine (EM) residents have limited opportunities to perform the procedure in clinical or educational settings. Standardized, reliable, validated checklists do not exist to evaluate procedural competency.