Sepsis alerts in EMS and the results of pre-hospital ETCO2.

Background: Field sepsis alerts have the ability to expedite initial ED sepsis treatment. Our hypothesis is that in patients that meet EMS sepsis alert criteria there is a strong relationship between prehospital end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) readings and the outcome of diagnosed infection.

Methods: In 2014, our EMS service initiated a protocol requiring hospitals to receive notification of a "sepsis alert" on all suspected sepsis patients.

Two Types of Prehospital Systems Interventions that Triage Low-Acuity Patients to Alternative Sites of Care.

Objectives: This study retrospectively compared alternatives for navigating low-acuity patients in two emergency medical services systems. System A involved a response to every 9-1-1 request with an "evaluate, treat, and refer" process, in which paramedics decided whether patients could be treated on-scene and referred to a primary care provider or urgent care center. System B used a "telephone triage and referral" process, in which callers of low severity were diverted from 9-1-1 to call centers where nurses provided advice and/or a referral to a primary care provider/urgent care center.

Out-of-hospital medication storage temperatures: a review of the literature and directions for the future.

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) National Formulary prescribes the packaging, storage, and distribution of medications. Most of the medications commonly used by emergency medical services (EMS) are intended for storage at "controlled room temperature." The USP definition of controlled room temperature is multifaceted and complex, and cannot be easily described as a simple range of acceptable temperatures, or even as an average temperature.