BACKGROUND Emergency care research is rarely undertaken in low- and middle-income countries. A manageable 'road map' for research in South African (SA) emergency care is needed to address research gaps. OBJECTIVE To identify, collate and prioritise research topics from identified knowledge gaps in emergency care in SA. METHODS Seventy-six individuals were invited to participate in a modifie...

BACKGROUND We aimed to assess the structure, function and performance of Ashanti Region's emergency medical services system in the context of the regional need for prehospital emergency care. DESIGN A mixed-methods approach was employed, using retrospective collection of quantitative data and prospectively gathered qualitative data. Setting - pertinent data were collected from Ghanaian and in...

BACKGROUND Patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease often require prehospital emergency treatment. This enables patients who are less ill to be treated on-site and to avoid hospital admission, while severely ill patients can receive immediate ventilatory support in the form of intubation. The emergency physician faces difficult treatment decisions, however, and ...

We have read with interest the recent article by Costa Navarro about trauma systems in Spain that analyzed several hospitals specialized in trauma care. We would like to congratulate the authors for their review of more than 100 centers in their study and for the conclusions to which they arrived, with which we agree completely. However, we would like to make some comments based on what we have...

Prehospital ultrasound has been deployed in certain areas of the USA and Europe. Physicians, emergency medical technicians, and flight nurses have utilized a variety of medical and trauma ultrasound assessments to impact patient care in the field. The goal of this review is to summarize the literature on emergency medical services (EMS) use of ultrasound to more clearly define the potential uti...

BACKGROUND Inter-hospital teleconsultation improves stroke care. To transfer this concept into the emergency medical service (EMS), the feasibility and effects of prehospital teleconsultation were investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Teleconsultation enabling audio communication, real-time video streaming, vital data and still picture transmission was conducted between an ambulance an...

Introduction: Pain may be described as a sensation of hurt or strong discomfort and is the body's way of sending message to the brain that an injury has occurred. Pain medicines block these messages or reduce their effect on the brain. Accurate administration of analgesia have a long –lasting effect on children whole experience of medical care and affects parents' and children's future reaction...

Trauma is a leading cause of death and disability especially amongst young people. Prehospital trauma care service remains a dynamic field of medicine for care of trauma patients. The goal of prehospital emergency care system should be to match the needs of the patients to the available resources so that optimal, prompt and cost-effective care can be offered. For bridging the wide gap between t...

UNLABELLED Up to 3 million US children are cared for by emergency medical services (EMSs) annually. Limited research exists on pediatric prehospital care. The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) mission is to perform high-quality research for children, including prehospital research. Our objective was to develop a pediatric-specific prehospital research agenda. METHODS ...