respiratory conditions

Should oral steroids be routinely supplied to prevent asthmatic relapse?

A specialist paramedic was called to attend a local police station where a 32 year old police officer was experiencing a ‘tight and wheezy chest’. Three hours earlier he had apprehended a criminal...

Exploring a possible incidence of neurogenic pulmonary oedema

Neurological conditions that cause an abrupt and rapid increase in ICP are closely correlated with, and therefore at greatest risk of, NPO (Davison et al, 2012).

Can paramedics treat sepsis?

The Pre-hospital Piperacillin/Tazobactam (PrePip) project tested the concept that UK paramedics could accurately recognise sepsis, aseptically take blood cultures, and safely and rapidly treat septic...

A pilot study exploring the accuracy of pre-hospital sepsis recognition in the North East Ambulance Service

It is estimated there are at least 100 000 cases of severe sepsis each year in the UK, although the true prevalence of sepsis may be higher due to under recognition (Cronshaw et al, 2011). Mortality...

Pre-hospital assessment and treatment of meningococcal meningitis

Because bacterial meningitis is life-threatening, early diagnosis and treatment is vital (Brouwer et al, 2012)—the necessity of which is underlined in a study that demonstrated an association between...

Pre-hospital lactate monitoring for adults with sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition with estimates of up to 37 000 deaths annually in the UK alone. When sepsis is not treated the mortality rate increases by 8% every hour (Cronshaw et al, 2011)....

Pharmacologically assisted laryngeal mask insertion: a consensus statement

The PALM technique has been described in polytrauma patients with a reduced Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and ongoing airway obstruction as well as airway soiling from facial injuries. The patients have...

Ambulance CPAP Saves Lives: why don't we use it?

Current UK ambulance guidelines (Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC), 2013) advocate the use of nitrates (in particular, glyceryl trinitrate) as the first-line treatment of ACPE....

Exploring emergency airway management techniques for paramedics

Ideally, the placement of an endotracheal tube should be performed in a controlled environment, although this is rarely possible in a community setting. With the high probability of gastric contents...