Now showing items 21-40 of 131

    • What are ambulance crews’ experiences of using a mechanical chest compression device for out-of-hospital resuscitation? A constructivist qualitative study utilising online focus groups

      Blair, Laura; Duffy, Richelle (The College of Paramedics, 2022-09-01)
      Introduction: Mechanical chest compression devices (MCCDs) provide chest compressions mechanically to a person in cardiac arrest. Those chest compressions would usually be provided manually. Previous studies into the use of MCCDs have focused on the quantitative outcomes, with little emphasis on the qualitative experiences of those using MCCDs. Purpose: To collect and report ambulance crews' experiences of using MCCDs for out-of-hospital resuscitation attempts. Methods: The philosophical approach was constructivist, the methodology qualitative and the data collection method online focus groups. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants who met the inclusion criteria, which broadly were to have experience of using MCCDs for out-of-hospital resuscitation. There have been two types of MCCD used locally. Participants were included regardless of which type of device they had experience of. Similarly, participants were included whether they had active or passive experience of the devices. The focus groups were recorded, fully transcribed and then analysed using constant comparison. Results: Four selective codes emerged. These were factors directly affecting ambulance crew members; practicalities of a resuscitation attempt; ambulance crew members' perceptions, experiences and thoughts; negatives of MCCDs. Conclusion: The main perceptions arising from the participants' discussion in this work were that MCCD use could potentially provide psychological protection to ambulance crew members when reflecting on resuscitation attempts, and participants felt there is an overall reduction of cognitive load for ambulance crew members when using MCCDs for resuscitation attempts. There were particularly timely benefits expressed of MCCDs easing the physical fatigue of a resuscitation attempt when responding wearing personal protective equipment, as has been required during the COVID-19 pandemic. MCCDs were felt to be of benefit when transporting a patient in cardiac arrest but differences were expressed as to whether the LUCAS-2 in particular helps or hinders extrication of a patient. Abstract published with permission
    • Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation for paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in England: An observational registry cohort study

      Albargi, H; Mallett, S; Berhane, S; Booth, S; Hawkes, C; Perkins, Gavin; Norton, M; Foster, Theresa; Scholefield, B (2022-01)
    • Documentation of atrial fibrillation among non-conveyed ambulance patients: a new primary prevention opportunity?

      Heppenstall, Emily; McClelland, Graham; Price, Christopher; Wilkinson, Chris (2022-06-01)
      Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and is a significant risk factor for stroke. Prescription of oral anticoagulant (OAC) medication reduces the risk of AF-related stroke by 64% - yet over 400,000 people in England have undiagnosed (and therefore untreated) AF.Emergency medical services (EMS) encounter a wide range of patients, some of whom may not engage with other healthcare services. AF may be detected by EMS in connection with the cause of the call, or as an incidental finding. While EMS are not traditionally utilised for public health screening, they may offer an opportunity to identify patients with undiagnosed or untreated AF and refer onward.This study aimed to explore what proportion of patients seen by EMS who were not transported to hospital had AF and to estimate how many would potentially benefit from OAC. Abstract published with permission.
    • A qualitative exploration of the views of paramedics regarding the identification of cardiovascular risk factors in the pre-hospital environment

      Taylor, Josie; McClelland, Graham (2022-06-01)
      Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the most prominent cause of death in England. Healthcare professionals have been encouraged to identify cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs). The aim of this study was to explore how paramedics contribute to the identification of CVRFs in the pre-hospital setting, through their role, behaviours and practice. Methods: The study took place within the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust supported by a National Institute for Health Research clinical research internship. A qualitative approach was used, and a single focus group was conducted. The study recruited participants through advertising for volunteers and purposive sampling. The themes that arose from the focus group allowed the initial exploration of the views of paramedics in relation to role, behaviour and practice in identifying CVRFs. Results: A single focus group with five paramedics was conducted in June 2021. Two central themes emerged: education/health promotion and fear/anxiety. Participants agreed that their role in this area centred around patient education. Participants’ behaviours and practice were adversely affected through fear of complaints, fear of hypocrisy and feeling a lack of support from the ambulance service. Participants felt that further training and subsequent indemnity from complaints would improve the likelihood of more direct patient education. Support from the ambulance service to improve employees’ own health and well-being was also a key topic of discussion. Conclusion: The study explored the views of a small sample of paramedics on this topic. Patient education was felt to be part of a paramedic’s role; however, barriers were identified that prevent paramedics from carrying out this role. Further research is needed to explore these barriers further. https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=a11c8d03-9e54-4c50-a80a-c539f1e3f04d%40redis 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. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.29045/14784726.2022.06.7.1.19
    • Aspirin for suspected stroke patients?

      McClelland, Graham (2023-03-07)
      Stroke can be a frustrating condition for paramedics as it feels like there is very little they can do to treat a stroke patient. Once paramedics suspect a patient is having a stroke, minimising on-scene time, rapidly transporting the patient and pre-alerting the specialist stroke unit are the best things they can do. Trials of interventions potentially usable by paramedics such as FAST-MAG (Saver et al, 2014) and RIGHT2 (Bath et al, 2019) have failed to demonstrate improvements in patient outcomes and leave paramedics with the same treatment options they had 20 years ago—none. Abstract published with permission.
    • To collar or not to collar. Views of pre-hospital emergency care providers on immobilisation without cervical collars: a focus group study

      Thompson, Lee; Shaw, Gary; Bates, Charlotte; Hawkins, Christopher; McClelland, Graham; McMeekin, Peter (2021-05-01)
      Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a rare event, with high numbers of patients unnecessarily immobilised with no potential benefit based on limited evidence from the 1950s and 1960s. Contemporary opinion now challenges the notion that traditional immobilisation prevents movement and protects the spine. Current literature suggests that these methods which include semi-rigid collars can potentially cause more movement of the spine and harm the patient. The purpose of this study was to explore the views and perspectives of pre-hospital care providers on immobilising patients without the use of a semi-rigid collar. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tcop/bpj/2021/00000006/00000001/art00006 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. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.29045/14784726.2021.6.6.1.38 Abstract published with permission.
    • Reply to Giles N. Cattermole and Mike Well

      Charlton, Karl; Capsey, Matt; Moat, Christopher (2021-05-01)
      Thank you to Cattermole and Wells for your response to our publication and we welcome the discussion related to our findings. It is pleasing to note that the respondents agree with our findings that estimation of weight based on age is inaccurate and risks mis-dosing of some drugs. The overall aim of our research was to analyse the accuracy of paediatric weight estimation by UK ambulance personnel applying age-based methods of estimating weight using contemporary data. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tcop/bpj/2021/00000006/00000001/art00009 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.29045/14784726.2021.6.6.1.54 Abstract published with permission.
    • Hangings attended by ambulance clinicians in the North East of England

      Shaw, Gary R.; Thompson, Lee; McClelland, Graham (2021-12-01)
      Suicide rates have risen in England over the last decade and hanging, a highly lethal method of suicide, has been the most common method. Previous work in this area identified a lack of literature discussing emergency medical services (EMS) attendance at hangings. This article aims to describe hangings attended by EMS in the North East of England in order to inform future work in this area. Abstract published with permission
    • Ambulance service call handler and clinician identification of stroke in North East Ambulance Service

      McClelland, Graham; Burrow, Emma (2021-09)
      Emergency medical services (EMS) are the first point of contact for most acute stroke patients. The EMS response is triggered by ambulance call handlers who triage calls and then an appropriate response is allocated. Early recognition of stroke is vital to minimise the call to hospital time as the availability and effectiveness of reperfusion therapies are time dependent. Minimising the pre-hospital phase by accurate call handler stroke identification, short EMS on-scene times and rapid access to specialist stroke care is vital. The aims of this study were to evaluate stroke identification by call handlers and clinicians in North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) and report on-scene times for suspected stroke patients. Abstract published with permission.
    • Hangings attended by emergency medical services: a scoping review

      Shaw, Gary; Thompson, Lee; McClelland, Graham (2021-03)
      n the United Kingdom (UK) there were 6507 deaths by suicide in 2018, with hanging being the most common method. Hanging will normally result in emergency medical services (EMS) being called and may result in resuscitation being attempted. Trauma audits conducted by North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust have identified an increased trend in hanging cases, which were also reported in national data. The aim of this scoping review was to explore the literature around EMS attendance at hangings to inform further research and clinical practice. Abstract published with permission.
    • Adrenaline to improve survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the PARAMEDIC2 RCT

      Perkins, Gavin; Ji, Chen; Achana, Felix; Black, John J.M.; Charlton, Karl; Crawford, James; de Paeztron, Adam; Deakin, Charles; Docherty, Mark; Finn, Judith; et al. (2021-04)
    • The impact of introducing real time feedback on ventilation rate and tidal volume by ambulance clinicians in the North East in cardiac arrest simulations

      Charlton, Karl; McClelland, Graham; Millican, Karen; Haworth, Daniel; Aitken-Fell, Paul; Norton, Michael (2021-05-10)
    • Defining major trauma: a Delphi study

      Thompson, Lee; Hill, Michael; Lecky, Fiona; Shaw, Gary (2021-05-10)
    • The influence of paramedic assessment on emergency transportation of stroke patients

      Price, Christopher; Duckett, Jay; Cessford, C.; Ford, Gary A. (2008-09-01)
    • A systematic review of the clinical and demographic characteristics of adult patients with stroke mimics

      McClelland, Graham; Flynn, Darren; Rodgers, Helen; Price, Christopher (2015-09-01)
    • Paramedic experiences of using an enhanced stroke assessment during a cluster randomised trial: a qualitative thematic analysis

      Lally, Joanne; Vaittinen, Anu; McClelland, Graham; Price, Christopher; Shaw, Lisa; Ford, Gary A.; Flynn, Darren; Exley, Catherine (2020-06-16)
      Background Intravenous thrombolysis is a key element of emergency treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, but hospital service delivery is variable. The Paramedic Acute Stroke Treatment Assessment (PASTA) multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial evaluated whether an enhanced paramedic-initiated stroke assessment pathway could improve thrombolysis volume. This paper reports the findings of a parallel process evaluation which explored intervention paramedics’ experience of delivering the enhanced assessment. Methods Interviewees were recruited from 453 trained intervention paramedics across three UK ambulance services hosting the trial: North East, North West and Welsh Ambulance Services. A semistructured interview guide aimed to (1) explore the stroke-specific assessment and handover procedures which were part of the PASTA pathway and (2) enable paramedics to share relevant views about expanding their role and any barriers/enablers they encountered. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed following the principles of the constant comparative method. Results Twenty-six interviews were conducted (11 North East, 10 North West and 5 Wales). Iterative data analysis identified four key themes, which reflected paramedics’ experiences at different stages of the care pathway: (1) Enhanced assessment at scene: paramedics felt this improved their skillset and confidence. (2) Prealert to hospital: a mixed experience dependent on receiving hospital staff. (3) Handover to hospital team: standardisation of format was viewed as the primary benefit of the PASTA pathway. (4) Assisting in hospital and feedback: due to professional boundaries, paramedics found these aspects harder to achieve, although feedback from the clinical team was valued when available. Conclusion Paramedics believed that the PASTA pathway enhanced their skills and the emergency care of stroke patients, but a continuing clinical role postadmission was challenging. Future studies should consider whether interdisciplinary training is needed to enable more radical extension of professional boundaries for paramedics. https://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2020/06/16/emermed-2019-209392. 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/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2019-209392
    • Feasibility of phenytoin as a paramedic-led second-line anti-epileptic drug

      Morrison, Luke (2020-09-07)
      Background: Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) is a medical emergency that is commonly encountered in the prehospital setting. In almost all prehospital settings, treatment is limited to benzodiazepines even though the standard of care in emergency departments includes second-line agents such as phenytoin. Methods: A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar using the search terms ‘phenytoin’, ‘seizure’ or ‘convulsive’ and ‘prehospital’, ‘EMS’ or ‘ambulance’ or ‘emergency department’. Five articles were analysed and a narrative review formed. Results: Phenytoin is an effective and commonly used second-line anti-epileptic agent but there is a distinct lack of evidence on prehospital phenytoin. Phasing the introduction of phenytoin into practice while simultaneously running a well-designed research trial could provide data for prehospital providers and the wider health community. Conclusion: Management of CSE will continue to present challenges to prehospital providers. Promoting the introduction of phenytoin to select patients, administered by advanced clinicians, could be an excellent opportunity to generate much-needed clinical data and potentially reduce morbidity and mortality in CSE. Abstract published with permission.
    • Development and impact of a dedicated cardiac arrest response unit in a UK regional ambulance service

      Younger, Paul; McClelland, Graham; Fell, Paul (2015-05-19)
      Background Survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) vary, with figures from 2% to 12% reported nationally. Our ambulance service introduced a dedicated cardiac arrest response unit (CARU) as a trial in order to improve local patient outcomes by focussing training, extending the scope of practice and increasing exposure to cardiac arrests. CARU launched in January 2014 using a rapid response car staffed by senior paramedics responding to cardiac arrests within a 19 minute radius of their location⇓. VIEW INLINE VIEW POPUP Methods This work describes the development and impact of CARU during the initial six months (10/01/14 to 09/07/2014) of operations using prospectively collected data on all cases attended. Results CARU activated to 165 calls and attended 65% (n=107). 50% (n=54) of the cases attended were cardiac arrests where resuscitation was attempted. Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) was achieved during pre-hospital resuscitation in 52% (n=28) of cases. Patient outcomes are reported compared with service data for January to June 2014 inclusive and one year of historical data from the regional OHCA registry: Conclusions Based on these figures CARU appears to have a positive impact on ROSC and a significant impact on survival to discharge rates compared with the rest of the service (p<0.01, Fisher's exact test). Further work is needed to explore how CARU delivers this impact and how the CARU model can be implemented beyond the trial setting in a sustainable fashion. https://emj.bmj.com/content/32/6/503.2. 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/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2015-204979.2