Intraosseous and intravenous vascular access during adult cardiac arrest: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To summarise evidence on the clinical effectiveness of initial vascular attempts via the intraosseous route compared to the intravenous route in adult cardiac arrest.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and Embase (OVID platform), the Cochrane library, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform from inception to September 4 2024 for randomised clinical trials comparing the intraosseous route with the intravenous route in adult cardiac arrest. Our primary outcome was 30-day survival.

An assessment of long-term complications following prehospital intraosseous access: A nationwide study.

Background: The guidelines for Advanced Life Support issued by the European Resuscitation Council recommend considering drug delivery through intraosseous access if intravenous access to the vascular bed is not feasible or unsuccessful. Emergency prehospital intraosseous cannulation may theoretically lead to an increased risk of long-term complications such as osteomyelitis, osteonecrosis, or compartment syndrome. Such complications have previously been reported in case reports or small sample case series.

Nutritional risk screening by the emergency medical services: Agreement with in-hospital assessment.

Introduction: Early recognition of nutritional risk is important to prevent the adverse consequences of malnutrition. However, nutritional risk screening is often disregarded in hospitals.

Purpose: To evaluate the agreement of nutritional risk screening results between screening performed by emergency medical services (EMS) and at the hospital ward.

Medical dispatchers' experience with live video during emergency calls: a national questionnaire study.

Background: Telehealth has become increasingly essential in healthcare provision, also in the Prehospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS), where live video is implemented as a supplemental tool to assess and triage medical emergency calls. So far, using video for emergency calls seems beneficial for patient assessment and dispatcher-assisted first aid. However, the EMS dispatchers' experiences with and perceptions of using video during emergency calls are largely unexplored.

Patients' use of Danish emergency medical services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a register-based study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, disturbing images of ambulances unable to respond to the demands for prehospital assistance appeared from several parts of the world. In Denmark, however, a notion occurred that the demands for emergency medical assistance declined. The purpose of this study was to compare the patients' use of the Danish Emergency Medical Services (EMS) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comparison of GAP, R-GAP, and new trauma score (NTS) systems in predicting mortality of traffic accidents that injure hospitals at Mashhad University of medical sciences.

Background: There are several trauma scoring systems with varying levels of accuracy and reliability that have been developed to predict and classify mortality in trauma patients in the hospital admission. Considering the importance of the country's emergency organization and the World Health Organization in the category of traffic accidents, we used this information in the study. The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the predictive power of three scoring systems (R-GAP, GAP, and NTS) on traffic accident injuries.

Prehospital point-of-care medication burden as a predictor of poor related outcomes in unselected acute diseases.

How prehospital medication predicts patient outcomes is unclear. The aim of this work was to unveil the association between medication burden administration in prehospital care and short, mid, and long-term mortality (2, 30, and 365 day) in unselected acute diseases and to assess the potential of the number of medications administered for short, mid, and long-term mortality prediction. A prospective, multicenter, ambulance-based, cohort study was carried out in adults with unselected acute diseases managed by emergency medical services (EMS).

Pulmonary vasodilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation - A randomized, controlled porcine study.

Background: During resuscitation pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) increases. This reduces left ventricular filling, leading to decreased blood flow. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) produces selective pulmonary vasodilation.

Patients suffering traumatic brain injury: patient characteristics, prehospital triage, primary referral and mortality - A population-based follow-up study.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a potential high-risk condition, but appropriate care pathways, including prehospital triage and primary referral to a specialised neurosurgical centre, can improve neurological outcome and survival. The care pathway starts with layman triage, wherein the patient or bystander decides whether to contact a general practitioner (GP) or emergency services (1-1-2 call) as an entryway into the health care system. The GP or 112-health care professional then decides on the level of urgency and dispatches emergency medical services (EMS) when needed.

Measuring narrative identity: rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches.

Narrative identity - how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past - is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare.

Blood laboratory analyses preceding in-hospital cardiac arrest: A matched case-control study.

Background: Whether blood laboratory analyses differ in patients who later suffer in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) compared to other hospitalised patients remains unknown. The aim of this study was to describe pre-arrest sampling frequencies, results, and trends in blood laboratory analyses in patients with IHCA compared to controls.

Methods: This study was a matched case-control study using national registries in Denmark.

Empirical meropenem versus piperacillin/tazobactam for adult patients with sepsis (EMPRESS) trial: Protocol.

Background: Piperacillin/tazobactam may be associated with less favourable outcomes than carbapenems in patients with severe bacterial infections, but the certainty of evidence is low.

Methods: The Empirical Meropenem versus Piperacillin/Tazobactam for Adult Patients with Sepsis (EMPRESS) trial is an investigator-initiated, international, parallel-group, randomised, open-label, adaptive clinical trial with an integrated feasibility phase. We will randomise adult, critically ill patients with sepsis to empirical treatment with meropenem or piperacillin/tazobactam for up to 30 days.

Characteristics and outcomes for general anesthesia in Denmark.

Background: General anesthesia is common, but concerns regarding post-operative complications and mortality remain. No study has described the Danish patient population undergoing general anesthesia on a national level. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing general anesthesia in Denmark.

Association Between Defibrillation Using LIFEPAK 15 or ZOLL X Series and Survival Outcomes in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background: Defibrillation is essential for achieving return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with shockable rhythms. This study aimed to investigate if the type of defibrillator used was associated with ROSC in OHCA.

Methods And Results: This study included adult patients with OHCA from the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry from 2016 to 2021 with at least 1 defibrillation by the emergency medical services.

Disparities in prehospital and emergency surgical care among patients with perforated ulcers and a history of mental illness: a nationwide cohort study.

Purpose: To compare patients with and without a history of mental illness on process and outcome measures in relation to prehospital and emergency surgical care for patients with perforated ulcer.

Methods: A nationwide registry-based cohort study of patients undergoing emergency surgery for perforated ulcer. We used data from the Danish Prehospital Database 2016-2017 and the Danish Emergency Surgery Registry 2004-2018 combined with data from other Danish databases.

Effect of Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Ischemic Stroke Subtypes: A Post Hoc Subgroup Analysis From the RESIST Trial.

Background: Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a simple and noninvasive procedure that has proved to be safe and feasible in numerous smaller clinical trials. Mixed results have been found in recent large randomized controlled trials. This is a post hoc subgroup analysis of the RESIST trial (Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Patients With Acute Stroke), investigating the effect of RIC in different acute ischemic stroke etiologies, and whether an effect was modified by treatment adherence.

Standard vs. targeted oxygen therapy prehospitally for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (STOP-COPD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: A high concentration of inspired supplemental oxygen may possibly cause hypercapnia and acidosis and increase mortality in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Even so, patients with AECOPD are being treated with high oxygen flow rates when receiving inhalation drugs in the prehospital setting. A cluster-randomised controlled trial found that reduced oxygen delivery by titrated treatment reduced mortality-a result supported by observational studies-but the results have never been reproduced.

Animal research in cardiac arrest.

The purpose of this narrative review is to provide an overview of lessons learned from experimental cardiac arrest studies, limitations, translation to clinical studies, ethical considerations and future directions. Cardiac arrest animal studies have provided valuable insights into the pathophysiology of cardiac arrest, the effects of various interventions, and the development of resuscitation techniques. However, there are limitations to animal models that should be considered when interpreting results.

Effect of urgency level on prehospital emergency transport times: a natural experiment.

Accurate estimation of ambulance transport time from the scene of incident to arrival at the emergency department (ED) is important for effective resource management and emergency care system planning. Further, differences in transport times between different urgency levels highlight the benefits of ambulance transports with highest urgency level in a setting where ambulances are allowed to not follow standard traffic rules. The objective of the study is to compare ambulance urgency level on the differences in estimates of ambulance transport times generated by Google Maps and the observed transport times in a prehospital setting where emergency vehicles have their own traffic laws.