literature review

Spotlight on Research

Chest pain is a frequent reason for contact with the emergency medical services (EMS). However, it has multiple aetiologies and only a small number of patients are having a myocardial infarction (MI)....

Spotlight on Research

Emergency medical services are frequently responding to care for younger children suffering from a convulsive disorder, but decision-making can be challenging in the out-of-hospital environment....

Spotlight on Research

Early recognition and defibrillation of shockable rhythms is strongly associated with survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and is reliant upon rapid and accurate rhythm interpretation of...

Prehospital airway management

This commentary aims to critically appraise the methods used within the review by Carney et al (2021) and expand upon the findings in the context of clinical practice..

Spotlight on Research

It is known that survivors of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) have a high probability of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, but less is known about the effects on bystanders and...

Influence of time on the predictive value of the post-resuscitation ECG

To investigate the influence of time on the predictive value of the post-ROSC ECG, patients over the age of 18 were sought who had experienced an OHCA, had been successfully resuscitated, had received...

Spotlight on Research

Hyperventilation of a patient in cardiac arrest has been shown to impact negatively on survival but maintenance of optimal ventilation is not as easy as it may sound. Previous research suggests that...

Where to look: sources of research in paramedicine

This summary is arranged with the synthesised sources first and individual studies last..

How it's done: search tools and techniques for major bibliographic databases

Search planning is often ignored in favour of going directly to your search. However, a search plan helps you to think through some key questions before you start searching that will save you time...

Mechanical chest compressions and survival in the emergency setting

This systematic review will endeavour to demonstrate whether the use of a mechanical chest compression device will be a positive factor in improving survival in the cardiac arrest scenario. In...

Focused cardiac ultrasound in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a literature review

Although the use of ultrasound is well established in hospitals, it did not emerge in the prehospital environment until the 1990s in the United States. Furthermore, paramedic use of ultrasound has...

Spotlight on Research

Over the past 30 years in Sweden, the ambulance response time in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has doubled—yet counter-intuitively, the chances of surviving an OHCA have also substantially...