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amber contains records of published research authored by staff working in NHS ambulance services in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. amber is managed by the Library and Knowledge Services for NHS Ambulance Services in England [LKS ASE]. For more information see the About pages or contact LKS ASE. If you have any further questions about amber or our data please eMail library@nwas.nhs.uk.

The LKS ASE Prize for the Best Elevator pitch was awarded to Ria Osborne from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust for her presentation on: Evaluation of the pre-hospital use of a Valsalva Assist Device in the Emergency treatment of Supraventricular Tachycardia [EVADE SVT].  Well done. 

  • Understanding an alternative approach to paramedic leadership

    Johnson, David; Bainbridge, Peter; Hazard, Wendy (MAG Online, 2018-08-02)
    Leadership is an essential feature of the life of a paramedic. During incidents, while working with multi-agency colleagues, and within organisations, leadership is an expected quality for paramedics to have. Across health and social care organisations, leadership is said to be of pivotal importance to future success. This has led to a large investment in leadership development programmes that organisations are now seeking to justify. Leadership, as a concept however, is complex and multifaceted. The nature of leadership has been debated over millennia and disagreement remains as to how to define it. The current article uses Critical Interpretive Synthesis to consider how approaches to leadership have developed over time. It concludes with a synthesising argument that leadership is a social construct; as such, no single definition will ever be appropriate. However, the four elements that comprise the leadership equation should be considered if the paramedic leader is to be effective. Abstract published with permission.
  • Strategies to manage emergency ambulance telephone callers with sustained high needs – an evaluation using linked data (STRETCHED)

    Porter, Alison; Edwards, A; Edwards, B.M.; Evans, B.A.; Gripper, P.C.; Hughes, H; John, A; Khanom, A; Petterson, R; Philips, C.J.; et al. (2019-09-24)
    Background Ambulance services across the UK have recognised a clinical and operational problem with persistent high users of the 999 service, but there is a lack of evidence about what works in this setting and how. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness, safety and efficiency of multi-agency case management approaches to the care of people who frequently call the emergency ambulance service, and gain understanding of barriers and facilitators to implementation. Methods We will carry out a mixed methods evaluation using anonymised linked routine data outcomes in a ‘natural experiment’ cohort design in four UK ambulance services, with one case management intervention site and one control site within each service. We will describe the epidemiology of ‘frequent calling’; assess the effects of case management on process, outcomes, safety and costs up to six months for 300 high users per service (n-1200); and examine the views of stakeholders, including patients, through qualitative methods. We will synthesise quantitative and qualitative findings, informed by a logic model describing predicted mechanisms of change. Results We received confirmation of NIHR grant funding for this study in 2018 so do not yet have results to report. Conclusions Telephone callers with sustained high needs represent a significant, high profile policy challenge to emergency ambulance services. Such callers may be indicative of gaps elsewhere in the health care system, which could be more effectively addressed by pro-active care. The STRETCHED study provides the opportunity to contribute to the currently sparse evidence base on interventions for this patient group. https://emj.bmj.com/content/36/10/e13.3 This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
  • Prehospital T-MACS and HEART scores in the prediction of myocardial infarction: a prospective evaluation

    Cooper, Jamie G; Donaldson, Lorna A; Coutts, Amanda J; Body, Richard; Mills, Nicolas L (2024-02-20)
  • Ten second triage: a novel and pragmatic approach to major incident triage

    Vassallo, Jamie; Cowburn, Philip; Park, Claire; Bull, Dave; Harris, Sean; Moran, Christopher G.; Smith, Jason Edward (2024)

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