Clinical Practice

Ministerial approval for commencement of work on paramedic prescribing

The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Medicines Project is a joint initiative by NHS England and the Department of Health to extend prescribing, supply and administration of medicines to Allied Health...

Rapid sequence induction and the paramedic

Rapid sequence intubation/induction (RSI) is an advanced procedure not currently advocated for UK paramedic practice although some paramedics attached to Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS)...

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...

Recipe for success: baking in Boston strong-observations on Boston's success

The response to the 15 April, 2013 Marathon Bombing was not a fortunate event. Nor were the stars just perfectly aligned for a lucky response. In fact, the foundation of a successful response is built...

Documentation: are we writing it right?

‘The quality of your record-keeping is also a reflection of the standard of your professional practice. Good record-keeping is a mark of a skilled and safe practitioner, while careless or...

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)....

A brief history of analgesia in paramedic practice

Important advances in the prevention and management of pain occurred in the mid-1800s, when drugs that produced anaesthesia were first used during surgery. These drugs included nitrous oxide, ether...

Potential use of amiodarone to treat new-onset AF in the pre-hospital setting

AF is frequently associated with structural abnormalities in the heart or cardiac disease, or may result from damage to the heart tissue itself, from thoracic surgery or coronary artery bypass grafts...

Intranasal and buccal midazolam in the pre-hospital management of epileptic tonic-clonic seizures

Epilepsy is a homeostatic imbalance characterised by recurrent malfunctions in motor, sensory or psychological functions. These malfunctions are commonly described as a seizure (Tortora and...

The use of telemedicine technology to support in pre-hospital patient care

Before reviewing the available technology, it is worth briefly outlining the history of technology in medicine, referred to as ‘telemedicine’. Utilising technology for health care is actually an old...

A comparison of paramedic practice with that of an emergency care practitioner

These tables illustrate that whether paramedic or ECP, the average work load and patient demographics are relatively similar..

An insight into the demands and stressors experienced by Community First Responders

An online survey to measure the demands and stressors experienced during a typical and high-stress callout was distributed via e-mail to Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) CFRs (n=535). The covering...