The experiences of health care professionals, patients, and families of the process of referral and admission to intensive care: A systematic literature review.

Treatment in an intensive care unit can be life-saving but it can be distressing and not every patient can benefit. Decisions to admit a patient to an intensive care unit are complex. We wished to explore how the decision to refer or admit is experienced by those involved, and undertook a systematic review of the literature to answer the research question: What are the experiences of health care professionals, patients, and families, of the process of referral and admission to an intensive care unit? Twelve relevant studies were identified, and a thematic analysis was conducted.

Acquisition and interpretation of focused diagnostic ultrasound images by ultrasound-naive advanced paramedics: trialling a PHUS education programme.

Objective: This trial investigated whether advanced paramedics from a UK regional ambulance service have the ability to acquire and interpret diagnostic quality ultrasound images following a 2-day programme of education and training covering the fundamental aspects of lung ultrasound.

Method: The participants were tested using a two-part examination; assessing both their theoretical understanding of image interpretation and their practical ability to acquire diagnostic quality ultrasound images. The results obtained were subsequently compared with those obtained from expert physician sonographers.

Paramedic application of ultrasound in the management of patients in the prehospital setting: a review of the literature.

Objectives: Recently, attempts have been made to identify the utility of ultrasound in the management of patients in the prehospital setting. However, in the UK there is no directly relevant supporting evidence that prehospital ultrasound may reduce patient mortality and morbidity. The evidence available to inform this debate is almost entirely obtained from outside the UK, where emergency medical services (EMS) routinely use doctors as part of their model of service delivery.