Impact of the first response unit on prehospital on-scene time among paramedic-suspected stroke patients: a retrospective before-after cohort study in Finland.

Background: Revascularization of an occluded artery by either thrombolysis or mechanical thrombectomy is a time-critical intervention in ischaemic stroke. Each link in the stroke chain of survival should minimize the delay to definitive treatment in every possible way. In this study, we investigated the effect of routine dispatch of a first response unit (FRU) on prehospital on-scene time (OST) on stroke missions.

Emergency medical dispatchers' ability to identify large vessel occlusion stroke during emergency calls.

Background: In acute ischemic stroke, conjugated eye deviation (CED) is an evident sign of cortical ischemia and large vessel occlusion (LVO). We aimed to determine if an emergency dispatcher can recognise LVO stroke during an emergency call by asking the caller a binary question regarding whether the patient's head or gaze is away from the side of the hemiparesis or not. Further, we investigated if the paramedics can confirm this sign at the scene.

Professional firefighter and trained volunteer first-responding units in emergency medical service.

Background: Although widely dispatched to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the performance of prehospital first-responding units in other medical emergencies is unknown.

Methods: In this retrospective, descriptive study, the general performance of 44 first-responding units in Pirkanmaa County, Finland, were examined. A subgroup analysis compared the first-responding units made up of professional firefighters and trained volunteers.

End-tidal carbon dioxide output in manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation versus active compression-decompression device during prehospital quality controlled resuscitation: a case series study.

Background: Active compression-decompression (ACD) devices have enhanced end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO) output in experimental cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) studies. However, the results in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients have shown inconsistent outcomes, and earlier studies lacked quality control of CPR attempts. We compared manual CPR with ACD-CPR by measuring ETCO output using an audiovisual feedback defibrillator to ensure continuous high quality resuscitation attempts.