Clinical Practice

Ambulance clinician assessment and management of transient loss of consciousness: a retrospective clinical audit

In August 2010, NICE published guidance on the management of T-LOC in adults and young people. The NICE guidance aims to ensure T-LOC patients are directed along the appropriate pathway to receive the...

Spotlight on Research

With the advent of stroke centres and the increasing use of reperfusion therapies in stroke management, the need to correctly identify strokes in a timely manner is vital in reducing subsequent...

End-tidal CO2 monitoring in the pre-hospital environment: more than just endotracheal tube placement confirmation

Measurement of carbon dioxide in expired ventilation gases has been used in anaesthesia practice since the late 1970s (Sinclair, 1998) and is mandatory practice in anaesthesia departments across the...

Pre-hospital treatment of supraventricular tachycardia: a literature review

A research question was designed using the PICO process with a systematic Boolean search methodology. A MeSH (Medical Subject Heading) search was carried out on ‘paramedic’ and ‘pre-hospital’ to...

Training versus education: the terminology

‘When we look at how pre-hospital clinicians are currently taught, we see a distinct transition away from using the term training, with current literature favouring the term education’ .

Mass-gathering medical care: a retrospective analysis

‘Protecting the health and wellbeing of the participants and spectators from infection and intentional injuries related to improper food, water, waste, land and road traffic management’ .

Emergency medical services (EMS) and waste: a review of the literature on sustainable EMS waste management

It has been claimed that ‘climate change presents the biggest single threat to health in the 21st century’ (Costello et al, 2009: 1693). As a result of this, services need to plan for the health...

The NHS Constitution lacks clout

‘There has been a stream of initiatives produced to generate public awareness regarding rights and entitlements associated with the NHS’ .

The duty of candour applies to you and your employer

‘The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of services, whether or not the information has been requested and whether or not a...

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance: a focused case series for pre-hospital practice

The EHAAT doctor-paramedic team were dispatched to a 10-year-old girl who had been struck by a medium-sized van travelling at an unknown speed. Upon arrival of the first ambulance crew, the patient...

Moving sepsis care to the front line: knowledge and views of pre-hospital clinicians

‘Similar to an acute myocardial ischaemic attack and an acute brain attack, the speed and appropriateness of therapy administered in the initial hours after the syndrome develops are likely to...