Clinical Practice

Frank's Sign as a clinical marker of cardiovascular disease

A diagonal earlobe crease (DELC) or Frank's Sign, has been linked with ischaemic heart disease since it was first described in 1973 by Dr. Sanders Frank (Frank, 1973). A classification system has...

Barriers to paramedic education in black and ethnic minority (BME) groups

A literature search was conducted (circa 2000 to mid-2013) with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the potential barriers for BME groups to accessing paramedic education. Literature...

Point-of-care testing for C-reactive protein in acute cough presentations

Since 1964, anti-microbial resistance (AMR) has been identified as one of the major threats to modern medicine prompting national governments and scientific communities to design strategies to combat...

Stay on the ambulance long enough and you'll go full circle: an evaluation of the clinical safety and effectiveness of non-emergency and multi-occupancy ambulance conveyance in non-emergency percutaneous coronary intervention patients

Identification of previous studies within UK Ambulance Services was undertaken initially to identify any data to support or refute the proposed study. A similar study was identified internally with...

Autoethnographic analysis of the self through an occupational story of a paramedic

I had a feeling that the job would be a challenging one given it involved a child. I glanced at the two-way radio and silently hoped; cancel us and we can go back to the mess room and work our way...

Paramedic-reported barriers towards use of CPR feedback devices in Perth, Western Australia

A voluntary, anonymous survey was distributed to SJA-WA paramedics participating in clinical refresher and research training courses from September 2015 to December 2015. The survey consisted of 11...

Appropriate pain assessment tools for use in patients with dementia in the out-of-hospital environment

Defining pain is complex; however, it is generally agreed to be an unpleasant, emotive and personal experience (Briggs, 2010; Steeds, 2013). Pain is generally split into two categories: nociceptive...

Is diazepam or lorazepam the most effective benzodiazepine for use in paramedic management of convulsive seizures in adults?

The focus of this review is to compare benefits of diazepam and lorazepam in the pre-hospital care setting. As there is limited evidence, the search criteria were widened to allow data from other...

Pre-hospital risk stratification using a modified thrombolysis in myocardial infarction score: a retrospective medical record review

A retrospective medical record review was conducted using an established methodological approach (Gearing et al, 2006)..