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Article Summary by: Charles Hwang, MD, FAEMS, FACEP Article: Braude D, Steuerwald M, Wray T, Galgon R. Managing the Out-of-Hospital Extraglottic Airway Device. Ann Emerg Med. 2019 Sep;74(3):416-422. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 May 3. Background Extraglottic airway devices (commonly referred to as supraglottic airway [SGA] devices) play an integral role in the prehospital airway algorithm

Article Bites Summary by Kristopher Bianconi, MD Hoyle Jr, J. D., Ekblad, G., Hover, T., Woodwyk, A., Brandt, R., Fales, B., & Lammers, R. L. (2019). Dosing errors made by paramedics during pediatric patient simulations after implementation of a state-wide pediatric drug dosing reference. Prehospital Emergency Care. Background The administration of medications to pediatric patients

Article Summary by James Li, MD Article: Spaite, D. W., Bobrow, B. J., Keim, S. M., Barnhart, B., Chikani, V., Gaither, J. B., … & Hu, C. (2019). Association of statewide implementation of the prehospital traumatic brain injury treatment guidelines with patient survival following traumatic brain injury: the excellence in prehospital injury care (EPIC) study.

What’s the Big Picture? By Adrien Quant LP,  Hashim Q. Zaidi MD As discussed in Part 1 and Part 2, current EMT standards of lung auscultation and pulse oximetry have critical limitations in the evaluation of ventilation and perfusion (Brown et al., 1997; DeMeulenaere 2007; Chan et al., 2013). However, the introduction of waveform capnography

The Benefits of Waveform Capnography for Patient Care By Adrien Quant LP, Hashim Q. Zaidi MD As discussed in Part 1, under the National EMS Scope of Practice Model (2019), EMTs are expected to initiate several critical airway and breathing interventions for a variety of medical and traumatic conditions. However, in order to evaluate ventilation

By Daniel Johnson, DO and Jordan Schooler, MD, PhD Clinical Case You arrive on the scene of a cardiac arrest. You find a middle-aged male with CPR in progress by bystanders. You find that he is in ventricular fibrillation. After quality CPR and defibrillation, you obtain ROSC. The patient remains comatose. You obtain a definitive

The Limitations of Lung Auscultation and Pulse Oximetry By Adrien Quant LP,  Hashim Q. Zaidi MD “Depending on a patient’s needs and/or system resources, EMTs are sometimes the highest level of care a patient will receive during an ambulance transport” National EMS Scope of Practice Model (2019) Under the National EMS Scope of Practice Model

by Maia Dorsett, MD PhD FAEMS When we teach about patient safety and medical errors, we put up pictures of the Swiss cheese model (1, 2) and demonstrate how harm occurs as errors fall through serial holes of imperfect systems.  When I examine this model, in many ways it rings true for the examples it

Article Summary by Elizabeth Stevens, MD, MA Article: Belval, L. N., Casa, D. J., Adams, W. M., Chiampas, G. T., Holschen, J. C., Hosokawa, Y., … & Stearns, R. L. (2018). Consensus statement-prehospital care of exertional heat stroke. Prehospital Emergency Care, 22(3), 392-397. Background: Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is end organ dysfunction due to hyperthermia

By Kenneth Dumas MD, Johnathon Elkes MD, Rachel Semmons MD THE CASE 78 year old male with a past medical history of COPD, DMII, HTN, and ESRD currently on hemodialysis calls 911 for complaints of shortness of breath not relieved by his home inhaler. On arrival, the patient is seated on his couch with notable