Research

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...

Spotlight on Research

As the title alludes to, this study took place across 10 European emergency medical services with the aim of determining if real-time objective feedback, while training on manikins, improves CPR...

Spotlight on Research

In this paper, the authors argue that spinal immobilisation during extrication of patients in road traffic collisions (RTC) is still routinely practised, despite the lack of evidence.

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...

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...

A brief guide to borderline personality disorder for pre-hospital clinicians in an emergency setting

Borderline personality disorder is termed a ‘serious psychiatric disorder’ (Perseius et al, 2007) and is associated with a high rate of suicide. It is associated with transient mood shifts,...

Length of professional education of paramedics and nurses at community colleges in the Northeast United States

Paramedics have provided advanced pre-hospital emergency medical care in the US since the early 1970s (National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA), 2007; Edgerly, 2013). According to the...

Musculoskeletal injury risks for ambulance workers

As part of their job, ambulance workers perform many tasks that expose them to musculoskeletal risks, including adopting awkward postures (Doormaal et al, 1995; Ferreira and Hignett, 2005); moving...

Airway management in UK ambulance services: results of the National Ambulance Service Airway Management Audit

An internet-based survey entitled the National Ambulance Service Airway Management Audit was created using the Bristol University Online Survey Tool (University of Bristol; www.survey.bris.ac.uk). The...