Validation of a Simulation-Based Resuscitation Curriculum for Maternal Cardiac Arrest.

Objective: To assess the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy of health care participants completing a simulation-based blended learning training curriculum on managing maternal medical emergencies and maternal cardiac arrest (Obstetric Life Support).

Methods: A formative assessment of the Obstetric Life Support curriculum was performed with a prehospital cohort comprising emergency medical services professionals and a hospital-based cohort comprising health care professionals who work primarily in hospital or urgent care settings and respond to maternal medical emergencies. The training consisted of self-guided precourse work and an instructor-led simulation course using a customized low-fidelity simulator.

EMS responses and non-transports during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic may affect both use of 9-1-1 systems and prehospital treatment and transport practices. We evaluated EMS responses in an EMS region when it experienced low to moderate burden of COVID-19 disease to assess overall trends, response and management characteristics, and non-transport rates. Our goal is to inform current and future pandemic response in similar regions.

The 2019 Core Content of Emergency Medical Services Medicine.

On March 13, 2019 the EMS Examination Committee of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) approved modifications to the Core Content of EMS Medicine. The Core Content is used to define the subspecialty of EMS Medicine, provides the basis for questions to be used during written examinations, and leads to development of a certification examination blueprint. The Core Content defines the universe of knowledge for the treatment of prehospital patients that is necessary to practice EMS Medicine.

Compound risk: History of traumatic stress predicts posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and severity in sudden cardiac arrest survivors.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors can develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which is associated with worse clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and predictors of PTSD in a large sample of SCA survivors. Prior history of psychological trauma and the effects of repeated trauma exposure on subsequent PTSD and symptom severity after SCA were also explored.

Cardiac anxiety after sudden cardiac arrest: Severity, predictors and clinical implications.

Background: Survival from cardiac arrest is a medical success but simultaneously produces psychological challenges related to perception of safety and threat. The current study evaluated symptoms of cardiac-specific anxiety in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors and examined predictors of cardiac anxiety secondary to cardiac arrest.

Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study of 188 SCA survivors from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association patient registry completed an online questionnaire that included a measure of cardiac anxiety (CAQ) and sociodemographic, cardiac history, and psychosocial adjustment data.

A comparative assessment of adverse event classification in the out-of-hospital setting.

Objectives: We sought to test reliability of two approaches to classify adverse events (AEs) associated with helicopter EMS (HEMS) transport.

Methods: The first approach for AE classification involved flight nurses and paramedics (RN/Medics) and mid-career emergency physicians (MC-EMPs) independently reviewing 50 randomly selected HEMS medical records. The second approach involved RN/Medics and MC-EMPs meeting as a group to openly discuss 20 additional medical records and reach consensus-based AE decision.

Measuring adverse events in helicopter emergency medical services: establishing content validity.

Introduction: We sought to create a valid framework for detecting adverse events (AEs) in the high-risk setting of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS).

Methods: We assembled a panel of 10 expert clinicians (n = 6 emergency medicine physicians and n = 4 prehospital nurses and flight paramedics) affiliated with a large multistate HEMS organization in the Northeast US. We used a modified Delphi technique to develop a framework for detecting AEs associated with the treatment of critically ill or injured patients.

Use of therapeutic hypothermia after in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Objectives: Formal guidelines recommend that therapeutic hypothermia be considered after in-hospital cardiac arrest. The rate of therapeutic hypothermia use after in-hospital cardiac arrest and details about its implementation are unknown. We aimed to determine the use of therapeutic hypothermia for adult in-hospital cardiac arrest, whether use has increased over time, and to identify factors associated with its use.

Multivariate analysis of successful intravenous line placement in the prehospital setting.

Background: Intravenous (IV) line placement is an important prehospital advanced life support skill, but IV success rates are variable among providers. Little is known about what factors are associated with successful IV placement, limiting the ability to develop benchmarks for skill maintenance, such as requiring a specific number of IV placements per year.

Objective: We aimed to identify whether first-pass IV success was associated with the number of attempted or successful previous IV attempts.

The core content of emergency medical services medicine.

On September 23, 2010, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) approved emergency medical services (EMS) as a subspecialty of emergency medicine. As a result, the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) is planning to award the first certificates in EMS medicine in the fall of 2013. The purpose of subspecialty certification in EMS, as defined by ABEM, is to standardize physician training and qualifications for EMS practice, to improve patient safety and enhance the quality of emergency medical care provided to patients in the prehospital environment, and to facilitate integration of prehospital patient treatment into the continuum of patient care.

Resident field response in an emergency medicine prehospital care rotation.

Background: Emergency medical services (EMS) is an important component of emergency medicine residency curricula. For over 20 years, residents at a university-affiliated program have staffed a physician response vehicle and responded to selected calls in an urban EMS system with online faculty backup.

Objectives: To describe the prehospital educational experience and patient care provided through this unique program and to assess residents' perceptions.

Effects of AED device features on performance by untrained laypersons.

Objective: Our study evaluates the impact of features of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on the performance and speed of untrained laypersons to deliver a shock and initiate CPR after a shock.

Methods: This was a randomized trial of volunteer laypersons without AED or advanced medical training. Subjects were assigned to use one of six different models of AEDs on a manikin in simulated cardiac arrest.

Essential features of designating out-of-hospital cardiac arrest as a reportable event: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee; Council on Cardiopulmonary, Perioperative, and Critical Care; Council on Cardiovascular Nursing; Council on Clinical Cardiology; and Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Interdisciplinary Working Group.

The 2010 impact goal of the American Heart Association is to reduce death rates from heart disease and stroke by 25% and to lower the prevalence of the leading risk factors by the same proportion. Much of the burden of acute heart disease is initially experienced out of hospital and can be reduced by timely delivery of effective prehospital emergency care. Many patients with an acute myocardial infarction die from cardiac arrest before they reach the hospital.

Inter Association Task Force recommendations on emergency preparedness and management of sudden cardiac arrest in high school and college athletic programs: a consensus statement.

Objective: To assist high school and college athletic programs prepare for and respond to a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This consensus statement summarizes our current understanding of SCA in young athletes, defines the necessary elements for emergency preparedness, and establishes uniform treatment protocols for the management of SCA.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes.

Inter-association Task Force recommendations on emergency preparedness and management of sudden cardiac arrest in high school and college athletic programs: a consensus statement.

Objective: To assist high school and college athletic programs prepare for and respond to a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This consensus statement summarizes our current understanding of SCA in young athletes, defines the necessary elements for emergency preparedness, and establishes uniform treatment protocols for the management of SCA.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes.