Recommendation for changes to the guidelines of trauma patients with potential spinal injury within a regional UK ambulance trust.

Background: Spinal assessment and immobilisation has been a topic of debate for many years where, despite an emerging evidence base and the delivery of new guidance overseas, little has changed within UK pre-hospital practice. Since 2018, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has spent time working with local trauma networks and expertise from within the region and international colleagues to develop a set of C-spine assessment and immobilisation guidelines that reflect the current best available international evidence and significant changes in international pre-hospital practice from settings such as Scandinavia and Australasia.

Methods: A specialist group was commissioned to review the topic of pre-hospital spinal immobilisation and explore potential for evidence-based improvement.

The Epidemiology and Effectiveness of Synchronized Cardioversion in a UK Prehospital Setting: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Synchronized cardioversion is an internationally accepted standard therapy for unstable tachyarrhythmias, but it is conventionally an in-hospital physician-led intervention. Increasingly, it is being brought forward into the prehospital setting as part of a specialist paramedic scope of practice; however, very little literature exists regarding the epidemiology or efficacy in this setting.

Methods: All patients receiving cardioversion within a United Kingdom (UK) ambulance service were identified using an electronic database.

Managing accidental hypothermia: a UK-wide survey of prehospital and search and rescue providers.

Aim: The management of hypothermic casualties is a challenge faced by all prehospital and search and rescue (SAR) teams. It is not known how the practice of these diverse teams compare. The aim of this study was to review prehospital hypothermia management across a wide range of SAR providers in the UK.

Pre-hospital transfusion of packed red blood cells in 147 patients from a UK helicopter emergency medical service.

Background: Early transfusion of packed red blood cells (PRBC) has been associated with improved survival in patients with haemorrhagic shock. This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients receiving pre-hospital blood transfusion and evaluate their subsequent need for in-hospital transfusion and surgery.

Methods: The decision to administer a pre-hospital PRBC transfusion was based on clinical judgment.

The Need for a UK Helicopter Emergency Medical Service by Night: A Prospective, Simulation Study.

Background: Major trauma commonly occurs at night. Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) can provide advanced prehospital care to victims of major trauma but do not routinely operate at night in the United Kingdom. We sought to prospectively examine the need for a night HEMS service in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a common medical emergency with significant mortality and significant neurological morbidity. Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) may be tasked to OHCA. We sought to assess the impact of tasking a HEMS service to OHCA and characterise the nature of these calls.