What causes adverse events in prehospital care? A human-factors approach.

Background: The last decade has seen a vast amount of work directed at the investigation of patient harm events. Unfortunately, little of it has pertained to prehospital care and as such, risk remains unquantified and poorly understood in this setting. We hypothesised that adverse patient events occurring during the prehospital phase may fall into discernible patterns, and that an understanding of these patterns would be valuable in the development of mitigation strategies.

Prehospital analgesia in New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction: With at least 20% of ambulance patients reporting pain of moderate to severe intensity, pain management has become a primary function of modern ambulance services. The objective of this study was to describe the use of intravenous morphine, inhaled methoxyflurane, and intranasal fentanyl when administered in the out-of-hospital setting by paramedics within a large Australian ambulance service.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from ambulance patient health care records (PHCR) for all cases from 01 July 2007 through 30 June 2008 in which an analgesic agent was administered (alone or in combination).

The pre-hospital epidemiology and management of spinal cord injuries in New South Wales: 2004-2008.

Context: Patients who have sustained a traumatic spinal cord injury require appropriate management in the immediate post-injury period for both survival and to reduce the chances of costly and disabling permanent neurological deficits. Emerging time-critical neuroprotective therapies require the prompt recognition and transfer of patients to a specialised centre for early intervention.

Methods: The Ambulance Research Institute, with the New South Wales State Spinal Cord Injury Service retrospectively linked prehospital data to spinal cord injury unit (SCIU) outcome data for all 324 patients transported by ambulance and subsequently admitted to a SCIU with a persisting traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) between January 2004 and June 2008, with the aim of identifying factors that impact on the provision of timely and appropriate care.

Review article: Prophylactic metoclopramide for patients receiving intravenous morphine in the emergency setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The objective of the present study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, comparing metoclopramide with placebo, for preventing vomiting in patients who have received i.v. morphine for acute pain in the emergency setting, and to determine the level of evidence supporting the use of prophylactic metoclopramide in this population.

Noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring in the emergency department.

Purpose Of Review: Emergency department patients are frequently undifferentiated, need accurate risk assessment and stratification, and are time-critical in their need for diagnosis and resuscitation. Valid, noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring modalities are essential to differentiate high from low risk patients, and to perform goal-directed management. This review analyses recent literature, which describes innovation in the range of noninvasive monitoring tools and places them in the emergency medicine context.

Identification of high-risk acute coronary syndromes by spectral analysis of ear photoplethysmographic waveform variability.

There is a need for robust techniques for early and accurate diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (ACSs), to avoid inappropriate discharge of patients. This study examined the use of frequency spectrum analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) waveform variability for the identification of high-risk ACS patients defined by an elevated cardiac troponin level. The study cohort comprised a convenience sample of adult patients presenting to the emergency department of the Prince of Wales Hospital over a 4 month period complaining of non-traumatic chest pain.

Prehospital vital signs can predict pain severity: analysis using ordinal logistic regression.

Objective: To determine whether vital signs in patients suffering from acute pain in the out-of-hospital setting have any association with pain severity measured using an ordinal pain scale.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of over 53 000 adult patients aged between 16 and 100 years, who presented to paramedics complaining of acute pain between 1 January 2004 and 30 November 2006. Simple correlation (Spearman's) and ordinal logistic regression techniques were used to create a proportional odds model to explore the relationship between patient-reported pain score and initial vital signs including respiratory rate, pulse rate and blood pressure.

Fingertip photoplethysmographic waveform variability and systemic vascular resistance in intensive care unit patients.

Low frequency variability in the fingertip photoplethysmogram (PPG) waveform has been utilized for inferring sympathetic vascular control, but its relationship with a quantitative measure of vascular tone has not been established. In this study, we examined the association between fingertip PPG waveform variability (PPGV) and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) obtained from thermodilution cardiac output (CO) and intra-arterial pressure measurements in 48 post cardiac surgery intensive care unit patients. Among the hemodynamic measurements, both CO (P < 0.

Effectiveness of prehospital morphine, fentanyl, and methoxyflurane in pediatric patients.

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of intravenous morphine, intranasal (IN) fentanyl, and inhaled methoxyflurane for managing moderate to severe pain in pediatric patients in the out-of-hospital setting.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective comparative study of 3,312 pediatric patients aged between 5 and 15 years who had moderate to severe pain (pain score ≥ 5) and who received intravenous morphine, IN fentanyl, or inhaled methoxyflurane, either alone or in combination, between January 1, 2004, and November 30, 2006. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze data extracted from a clinical database containing routinely entered information from patient health care records.

Prehospital non-invasive ventilation for acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema: an evidence-based review.

Background: Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is increasingly being implemented by many ambulance jurisdictions as a standard of care in the out-of-hospital management of acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema (ACPO). This implementation appears to be based on the body of evidence from the emergency department (ED) setting, with the assumption that earlier administration by paramedics would give benefits with regard to inhospital mortality and the rate of endotracheal intubation beyond those seen when initiated in the ED. This paper sought to identify and review the current level of evidence supporting NIV in the prehospital setting.

Effectiveness of morphine, fentanyl, and methoxyflurane in the prehospital setting.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of intravenous (IV) morphine, intranasal (IN) fentanyl, and inhaled methoxyflurane when administered by paramedics to patients with moderate to severe pain.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective comparative study of adult patients with moderate to severe pain treated by paramedics from the Ambulance Service of New South Wales who received IV morphine, IN fentanyl, or inhaled methoxyflurane either alone or in combination between January 1, 2004, and November 30, 2006. We used multivariate logistic regression to analyze data extracted from a clinical database containing routinely entered information from patient health care records.

Delayed versus immediate defibrillation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: Human studies over the last decade have indicated that delaying initial defibrillation to allow a short period of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may promote a more responsive myocardial state that is more likely to respond to defibrillation and result in increased rates of restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and/or survival. Out-of-hospital studies have produced conflicting results regarding the benefits of CPR prior to defibrillation in relation to survival to hospital discharge. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing the effect of delayed defibrillation preceded by CPR with immediate defibrillation on survival to hospital discharge.