BACKGROUND Patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at high risk for airway obstruction and hypoxia at the accident scene, and routine prehospital endotracheal intubation has been widely advocated. However, the effects on outcome are unclear. We therefore aim to determine effects of prehospital intubation on mortality and hypothesize that such effects may depend on the emergency me...

OBJECTIVE Prehospital emergency amputation is a rare procedure, which may be necessary to free a time-critical patient from entrapment. This study aimed to evaluate four techniques of cadaveric lower limb prehospital emergency amputation. METHOD A guillotine amputation of the distal femur was undertaken in fresh frozen self-donated cadavers. A prehospital doctor conducted a surgical amputatio...

BACKGROUND Difficult intubation management algorithms have proven efficacy in operating rooms but have rarely been assessed in a prehospital emergency setting. We undertook a prospective evaluation of a simple prehospital difficult intubation algorithm. METHODS All of our prehospital emergency physicians and nurse anesthetists were asked to adhere to a simple algorithm in all cases of impossi...

The goal of Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) is to reduce child death and disability due to both injury and illness. EMSC addresses the entire continuum of pediatric emergency services, from prevention and emergency medical service (EMS) access through prehospital and emergency department care, intensive care, rehabilitation, to reintegration into the community. The US Congress pa...

OBJECTIVES Recent events have reiterated the need for well-coordinated planning for mass-casualty events, including those that involve children. The objective of this study was to document the preparedness of prehospital emergency medical services agencies in the United States for the care of children who are involved in mass-casualty events. METHODS A national list of all licensed prehospita...

INTRODUCTION In the United States, there are limited studies regarding use of prehospital ultrasound (US) by emergency medical service (EMS) providers. Field diagnosis of life-threatening conditions using US could be of great utility. This study assesses the ability of EMS providers and students to accurately interpret heart and lung US images. METHODS We tested certified emergency medical te...

Introduction: This study correlated the effect of witnessing a cardiac arrest and instituting bystander CPR (ByCPR), as a secondary end point in a study evaluating the effect of bicarbonate on survival. Methods: This prospective, randomised, double blinded clinical intervention trial enrolled 874 prehospital cardiopulmonary arrest patients encountered in a prehospital urban, suburban, and rural...