Prehospital collection

BACKGROUND: Pre-hospital anaesthesia is a core competency of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS). Whether physician pre-hospital anaesthesia case volume affects outcomes is unknown in this setting. We aimed to investigate whether physician case volume was associated with differences in mortality or medical management. METHODS: We conducted a registry-based cohort study of patients undergoing drug-facilitated intubation by HEMS physician from January 1, 2013 to August 31, 2019...

BACKGROUND: Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) respond to serious trauma and medical emergencies. Geographical disparity and the regionalisation of trauma systems can complicate accurate HEMS dispatch. We sought to evaluate HEMS dispatch sensitivity in older trauma patients by analysing critical care interventions and conveyance in a well-established trauma system. METHODS: All trauma patients aged ≥65 years that were attended by the Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex over a 6-year period from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2019 were included...

BACKGROUND: Acute stroke treatment in mobile stroke units (MSU) is feasible and reduces time-to-treatment, but the optimal staffing model is unknown. We wanted to explore if integrating thrombolysis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in an anesthesiologist-based emergency medical services (EMS) reduces time-to-treatment and is safe. METHODS: A nonrandomized, prospective, controlled intervention study. INCLUSION CRITERIA: age ≥18 years, nonpregnant, stroke symptoms with onset ≤4 h...

BACKGROUND: For decades, Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) contribute greatly to prehospital patient care by performing advanced medical interventions on-scene. Unnecessary dispatches, resulting in cancellations, cause these vital resources to be temporarily unavailable and generate additional costs. A previous study showed a cancellation rate of 43.5% in our trauma region. However, little recent data about cancellation rates and reasons exist, despite revision of dispatch protocols...

BACKGROUND: It is largely unknown how often physicians in emergency helicopter medical services (HEMS) encounter various critical care events and if HEMS exposure is associated with particular practice patterns or outcomes. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed: to describe the frequency and distribution of critical care events; to investigate whether HEMS exposure is associated with differences in practice patterns and determine if HEMS exposure factors are associated with mortality...

BACKGROUND: Tracheal intubation remains the gold standard of airway management in emergency medicine and maximizing safety, intubation success, and especially first-pass intubation success (FPS) in these situations is imperative. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study on all 12 helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) bases of the Swiss Air Rescue, between February 15, 2018, and February 14, 2019. All 428 patients on whom out-of-hospital advanced airway management was performed by the HEMS crew were included...

BACKGROUND: Traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) is a severe and life-threatening situation that mandates urgent action. Outcomes after on-scene treatment of TCA in the Netherlands are currently unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate the rate of survival to discharge in patients who suffered from traumatic cardiac arrest and who were subsequently treated on-scene by the Dutch Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS). METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed including patients ≥ 18 years with TCA for which the Dutch HEMS were dispatched between January 1st 2014 and December 31st 2018...

(1) Background: Data on the effects of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) transport and treatment on the survival of severely injured pediatric patients in high-level trauma centers remain unclear. (2) Methods: A national dataset from the TraumaRegister DGU® was used to retrospectively compare the mortality rates among severely injured pediatric patients (1-15 years) who were transported by HEMS to those transported by ground emergency medical service (GEMS) and treated at trauma centers of different treatment levels (levels I-III)...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe the short-term and long-term mortality of patients treated by prehospital critical care teams in Finland. DESIGN AND SETTING: We performed a registry-based retrospective study that included all helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) dispatches in Finland from 1 January 2012 to 8 September 2019. Mortality data were acquired from the national Population Register Centre to calculate the standardised mortality ratio (SMR)...

BACKGROUND: Ambulance service blood transfusion is an area of rapid development. In New South Wales, Australia, the blood products carried by ambulance medical teams are often the first available to patients with critical bleeding. In addition to the blood products routinely carried by these teams, the Service created and implemented a method of initiating large-volume, mixed-product transfusions using existing blood banks: the Retrieval Transfusion Procedure (RTP). This article describes the trends and characteristics of New South Wales Ambulance RTP activations...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the rate of scalpel cricothyroidotomy conducted by a physician-paramedic prehospital trauma service over 20 years and to identify indications for, and factors associated with the intervention. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2019 using clinical database records. This study was conducted in a physician-paramedic prehospital trauma service, serving a predominantly urban population of approximately 10 million in an area of approximately 2500 km2 ...

BACKGROUND: In prehospital care, the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) can be dispatched for critically injured or ill children. However, little detail is known about dispatches for children, in terms of the incidence of prehospital interventions and overall mortality. The primary objective of this study is to provide an overview of pediatric patient characteristics and incidence of interventions. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all patients ≤ 17 years who received medical care by Rotterdam HEMS from 2012 until 2017 was carried out...

BACKGROUND: The use of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) for trauma patients has been debated since its introduction. We aim to compare outcomes for trauma patients transported by ground EMS (GEMS) vs. HEMS using raw and adjusted mortality in a level 1 trauma center. METHODS: A 6-year retrospective cohort study utilizing our level 1 trauma center registry for patients transferred by GEMS or HEMS was performed. Demographics and outcome measures were compared...

BACKGROUND: National guidelines do not provide recommendations concerning optimal dispatch time for helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) in the United States. OBJECTIVES: This study describes the association between mode of transport (ground vs. helicopter) and survival of patients with penetrating injury across different prehospital time intervals and proposes evidence-based time-related dispatch criteria for HEMS. METHODS: A retrospective matched cohort study was conducted using the 2015 National Trauma Data Bank...

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IMPORTANCE: Appropriate use of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) is important in ensuring that patients with critical illness or injury receive adequate treatment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between use of HEMS compared with use of ground EMS (GEMS) and mortality overall and in a subgroup of patients with critical illness or injury. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This register-based, nationwide cohort study used data retrieved from Danish registries from October 1, 2014, to April 30, 2018...

A 73-year-old male suddenly felt chest pain and nausea in his home. The fire department requested the dispatch of a physician-staffed helicopter. When the medical staff of the helicopter checked him, his 12-lead electrocardiogram showed ST elevation at the II, III, and aVF leads. After being fitted with pads for monitoring and defibrillation, he was transferred to the helicopter. Before landing at the base hospital a few minutes later, his electrocardiogram suddenly demonstrated ventricular fibrillation (VF)...

IMPORTANCE: The development and expansion of intracranial hematoma are associated with adverse outcomes. Use of tranexamic acid might limit intracranial hematoma formation, but its association with outcomes of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether prehospital administration of tranexamic acid is associated with mortality and functional outcomes in a group of patients with severe TBI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This multicenter cohort study is an analysis of prospectively collected observational data from the Brain Injury: Prehospital Registry of Outcome, Treatments and Epidemiology of Cerebral Trauma (BRAIN-PROTECT) study in the Netherlands...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term functional outcome of interhospital transfer of patients with stroke with suspected large vessel occlusion (LVO) using Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS). METHODS: Records of consecutive patients evaluated through 2 telestroke networks and transferred to thrombectomy-capable stroke centers between March 2017 and March 2018 were reviewed. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using the propensity score was performed to address confounding factors...

Introduction: Access time to extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) refractory out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a crucial factor. In our region, some patients are not eligible to this treatment due to the impossibility to reach the hospital with reasonable delay (ideally 60 min). In order to increase accessibility for patients far from ECPR centers, we developed a helicopter-borne ECPR-team which is sent out to the patient for ECPR implementation on the scene of the OHCA. Methods: We conducted a retrospective monocentric study to evaluate this strategy...