Rural-urban differences in emergency medical services bypass routing of stroke in North Carolina.

Purpose: Acute stroke is a serious, time-sensitive condition requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency medical services (EMS) routing and direct transport of acute stroke patients to stroke centers improves timely access to care. This study aimed to describe EMS stroke routing and transports by rurality in North Carolina (NC).

Prehospital Sepsis Recognition and Outcomes for Patients with Sepsis by Race and Ethnicity.

Background: First medical contact for patients with sepsis often initiates in the prehospital setting, yet limited studies have explored the EMS sepsis recognition-mortality relationship. Racial and ethnic minority patients often have worse sepsis outcomes, yet the role of prehospital recognition in this inequity has not been explored. Our objective was to describe prehospital sepsis recognition and hospital mortality, with analysis by patient race and ethnicity.

Community Socioeconomic and Urban-Rural Disparities in Prehospital Notification of Stroke by Emergency Medical Services in North Carolina.

Objectives: Notification by emergency medical services (EMS) to the destination hospital of an incoming suspected stroke patient is associated with timelier in-hospital evaluation and treatment. Current data on adherence to this evidence-based best practice are limited, however. We examined the frequency of EMS stroke prenotification in North Carolina by community socioeconomic status (SES) and rurality.

Evaluating Firefighter On-Scene Decontamination Practices Using a National Fire Records Management System.

Objective: This study describes firefighters' on-scene decontamination procedure use post-working fire and frequency of adherence to best practice.

Methods: This retrospective analysis of working fires was conducted using records from the ESO Data Collaborative (Austin, TX) national research database from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. Documentation of decontamination procedures was examined among records with smoke or combustion products exposure.

Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Disparities in Out-of-Hospital Pain Management for Patients With Long Bone Fractures.

Study Objective: To evaluate racial and ethnic disparities in out-of-hospital analgesic administration, accounting for the influence of clinical characteristics and community socioeconomic vulnerability, among a national cohort of patients with long bone fractures.

Methods: Using the 2019-2020 ESO Data Collaborative, we retrospectively analyzed emergency medical services (EMS) records for 9-1-1 advanced life support transport of adult patients diagnosed with long bone fractures at the emergency department. We calculated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for out-of-hospital analgesic administration by race and ethnicity, accounting for age, sex, insurance, fracture location, transport time, pain severity, and scene Social Vulnerability Index.