BACKGROUND Acute traumatic coagulopathy (ATC) is a syndrome of early, endogenous clotting dysfunction that afflicts up to 30% of severely injured patients, signaling an increased likelihood of all-cause and hemorrhage-associated mortality. To aid identification of patients within the likely therapeutic window for ATC and facilitate study of its mechanisms and targeted treatment, we developed an...

BACKGROUND Exposure to cold temperatures is often a neglected problem in prehospital care. Cold exposure increase thermal discomfort and, if untreated causes disturbances of vital body functions until ultimately reaching hypothermia. It may also impair cognitive function, increase pain and contribute to fear and an overall sense of dissatisfaction. The aim of this study was to investigate injur...

OBJECTIVE Given the recent emphasis on developing prehospital trauma care globally, we embarked upon a multicentre study to compare trauma patients' outcome within and between countries with technician-operated advanced life support (ALS) and physician-operated (Doc-ALS) emergency medical service (EMS) systems. These environments represent the continuum of prehospital care in high income countr...

The use of arterial tourniquets in prehospital emergency care has been fraught with controversy and superstition for many years despite the potential utility of these tools. This review examines this controversy in the context of the history of the tourniquet as well as its recent use in surgery and modern battlefield casualty care. Safe prehospital tourniquet use is widespread in the military ...

INTRODUCTION Trauma is a leading cause of death and disability in Mexico. Unintentional injuries, along with diabetes and heart disease, contribute to > 35% of the country's total mortality. Effective and efficient prehospital care of the conditions may improve outcomes. OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper was to determine if prehospital field experience (PFE) correlated with higher passing...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of emergency medical service (EMS) personnel pertaining to sepsis. We also compared EMS personnel's knowledge of sepsis and their intention to engage in prehospital sepsis management. METHODS The survey was conducted during education conferences for EMS personnel in December 2013 and January 2015 in Seoul, Korea. The questionnaire com...

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 The objective is to determine the rate of preventable mortality and the volume and nature of opportunities for improvement (OFI) in care for cases of traumatic death occurring in the state of Utah. METHODS A retrospective case review of deaths attributed to mechanical trauma throughout the state occurring between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2005, was conducted. Cases were rev...

BACKGROUND Injuries are a major cause of mortality and disability worldwide and are estimated to become the third leading cause of death by 2020. Most traffic deaths occur during the prehospital phase; consequently, prehospital trauma care has received considerable attention during the past decade. However, there is no study on the prehospital immobilization of spine and limbs in patients with ...