Basic and Advanced EMS Providers Are Equally Effective in Naloxone Administration for Opioid Overdose in Northern New England.

Objective: Overdose mortality from illicit and prescription opioids has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, especially in rural areas. Naloxone is a safe and effective agent that has been shown to successfully reverse the effects of opioid overdose in the prehospital setting. The National EMS Scope of Practice Model currently only recommends advanced life support (ALS) providers to administer naloxone; however, some individual states have expanded this scope of practice to include intranasal (IN) administration of naloxone by basic life support (BLS) providers, including the Northern New England states.

Comparison of use of the the Airtraq with direct laryngoscopy by paramedics in the simulated airway.

Introduction: Paramedics often encounter patients with difficult airways requiring emergent airway management.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare intubation utilizing the Airtraq with direct laryngoscopy (DL) in the manikin model. We evaluated the number of attempts, the time to successful intubation, and the Airtraq's learning curve.