Background Acute pain is one of the most common problems faced in prehospital emergency medicine. Sufficient prehospital pain therapy reduces psychological and emotional stress. Other clinical benefits include optimized conditions for patient transport, increased patient satisfaction and a better chance of timely and proper analgesia at the emergency department. Unfortunately, undertreatment of...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Emergency medical services routing of patients with acute stroke to designated centers may increase the proportion of patients receiving care at facilities meeting national standards and augment recruitment for prehospital stroke research. METHODS We analyzed consecutive patients enrolled within 2 hours of symptom onset in a prehospital stroke trial, before and after re...

BACKGROUND Sonography is an established diagnostic procedure in hospitals, but is not routinely used in prehospital emergency medicine. Several studies have addressed the use of ultrasound during helicopter flights and in emergency rooms, few in prehospital settings, but most focused on abdominal blunt trauma. Several case reports describe crucial decisions distinguished by ultrasound. METHOD...

OBJECTIVES The Early Retavase-Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (ER-TIMI) 19 trial tested the feasibility of prehospital initiation of the bolus fibrinolytic reteplase (rPA) and determined the time saved by prehospital rPA in the setting of contemporary emergency cardiac care. BACKGROUND Newer bolus fibrinolytics have undergone only limited evaluation for prehospital administration. In ad...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Much controversy exists about who can provide the best medical care for critically ill patients in the prehospital setting. The Anglo-American concept is on the whole to provide well trained paramedics to fulfil this task, whereas in some European countries emergency medical service physicians, particularly anaesthesiologists, are responsible for the safety of these patients. ...

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...

BACKGROUND Ambulance usage in Japan has increased consistently because it is free under the national health insurance system. The introduction of refusal for ambulance transfer is being debated nationally. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between prehospital data and hospitalization outcome for acute disease patients, and to develop a simple prehospital evalu...

Introduction: Pain may be described as a feeling of hurt or strong discomfort and is the body's way of sending a message to the brain that an injury has occurred. Pain medicine blocks these messages or reduces their effect on the brain. Timely administration of analgesia affects the entire emergency medical experience and can have a lasting effect on a child’s and family’s reaction to current a...

BACKGROUND In most countries, road traffic collisions (RTCs) are the main cause of cervical spine injuries. There are several techniques in use for spinal immobilisation during prehospital extrication; however, the evidence for these is currently poor. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to establish which technique provides the minimal deviation of the cervical spine from the neutral in...

Imaging modalities in the prehospital setting are helpful in the evaluation and management of time-sensitive emergency conditions. Ultrasound is the main modality that has been applied by emergency medical services (EMS) providers in the field. This paper examines the clinical applications of ultrasound in the prehospital setting. Specific focus is on applications that provide essential informa...