Paramedic perceptions of barriers and facilitators to the use of ambulance service appropriate care-referral pathways in Northern Ireland: a qualitative study.

Introduction: Paramedic clinical practice has seen significant evolution from the traditional role of transporting patients to an emergency department (ED). An evolving and flexible scope of practice, modernisation and healthcare reform has necessitated the development of a range of referral pathways for paramedics, with the aim of ensuring that service users receive the most appropriate care at the point of contact. Ambulance conveyance rates to EDs in Northern Ireland (NI) have only occasionally fallen below 75%.

Re-contact demographics and clinical characteristics of diabetic patients treated for a hypoglycaemic episode in the pre-hospital environment: a rapid literature review.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus has been referred to as an 'epidemic' and the World Health Organization reported 422 million people with the disease in 2014. Hypoglycaemia is common among emergency presentations, yet understanding around the utilisation of emergency medical services (EMS) for this is incomplete.Ambulance service referral pathways for those suitable to be treated in the community have been developed as a means of managing this growing demand.

Stress, anxiety, depression, and physical illness in college students.

The interrelationships among measures of stress, anxiety, depression, and physical illness in a proportional sample of college undergraduates (N = 184) were examined. Significant correlations were found in the stress-illness, anxiety-illness, depression-illness, and anxiety-depression relationships. Partial correlations demonstrated that the stress-illness relationship remained significant, though lowered, when first anxiety and then depression were held constant.