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Introduction: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are the first healthcare contact for the majority of severely ill patients. Physiologic measures collected by EMS, when incorporated into a prognostic score, may provide important information on patient illness severity. This study compares the predictive ability of 3 common prognostic scores for predicting clinical outcomes in EMS patients. Methods: Discrimination and calibration for predicting the primary outcome of hospital mortality, and secondary outcomes of 2-day mortality and ED disposition, were assessed for each of the scores using a one-year cohort of patients transported to hospital by EMS in Alberta, Canada. For each score, binary logistic regression was used to predict hospital mortality and 2-day mortality and ordinal logistic regression was used to predict ED disposition. Discrimination for each outcome was assessed using C-statistics, and calibration was assessed using calibration curves comparing predicted versus observed outcomes. Results: The Critical Illness Prediction [CIP], Modified Early Warning Score [MEWS], and National Early Warning Score [NEWS] were compared using 121,837 adult patients who were transported by paramedics. All scores had good discrimination for hospital mortality (C-statistic CIP: 0.79, MEWS: 0.71, NEWS: 0.78) and 2-day mortality (CIP:0.85, MEWS: 0.80, NEWS:0.85) but only moderate discrimination for ED disposition (CIP: 0.68, MEWS: 0.61, NEWS: 0.66). Calibration was reliable for hospital mortality in all scores but over-predicted risk for 2-day mortality at higher scores. Overall, the CIP score had the best discrimination, good calibration, and the greatest range of predicted probabilities (0.01 at a CIP score of 0 to 0.92 at a CIP score of 8) for hospital mortality. Conclusions: Prognostic scores using physiologic measures assessed by paramedics have good predictive ability for hospital mortality. These scores, particularly the CIP score, may be considered as a tool for mortality risk stratification or as a general measure of illness severity for patients included in EMS studies. Key words: prognostic; illness severity; prehospital

Background: To evaluate a new strategy for identifying sepsis in Emergency Department (ED) patients that combines administrative diagnosis codes with clinical information from the point of first contact. Methods: This study linked clinical data from adult patients transported by a provincial Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system to ED and inpatient administrative databases. Sepsis cases were identified by searching ED databases for diagnosis codes consistent with infection and organ dysfunction. Organ dysfunction was further assessed using a partial Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score derived from EMS clinical information. Reliability was evaluated by comparing patients’ ED diagnosis codes (ICD-10CA) to their inpatient diagnosis codes; criterion validity by comparing cases classified by the new strategy to an existing inpatient administrative algorithm; and construct validity by assessing for clinical characteristics typically associated with sepsis (e.g., mortality). Results: A total of 43,297 patients were included. ED infection codes were more reliable for classifying patients with infection than using ED sepsis codes alone (proportion of agreement with inpatient codes 79% vs. 74%; p-value < 0.001). The novel strategy requiring the presence of an infection code and either an organ dysfunction code or 2 or more SOFA points from EMS clinical information identified 1,379 more ED patients as having sepsis than the inpatient algorithm. These patients had high mortality supporting construct validity. Conclusions: Incorporation of a broader range of diagnostic codes and linking to an electronic database to obtain initial clinical information for the assessment of organ dysfunction improves reliability, criterion, and construct validity for identifying sepsis in ED patients.

There is a lack of definitive evidence that preventative, in-home medical care provided by highly trained community paramedics reduces acute health care utilization and improves the overall well-being of patients suffering from chronic diseases. The Expanding Paramedicine in the Community (EPIC) trial is a randomized controlled trial designed to investigate the use of community paramedics in chronic disease management (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02034045). This case of a patient randomized to the intervention arm of the EPIC study demonstrates how the added layer of frequent patient contact by community paramedics and real-time electronic medical record (EMR) correspondence between the paramedics, physicians and other involved practitioners prevented possible life-threatening complications. The visiting community paramedic deduced the need for an electrocardiogram, which prompted the primary care physician to order a stress test revealing abnormalities and thus a coronary artery bypass graft was performed without emergency procedures, unnecessary financial expenditure or further health degradation such as a myocardial infarction.

To determine whether the prehospital administration of adenosine to adults with stable and unstable paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) influences conversion rate (CR) to sinus rhythm, scene time, use of synchronized electrical cardioversion (SEC), and accuracy of rhythm strip interpretation by paramedics.This before-and-after study compared a retrospective control group (CG) prior to the introduction of adenosine with a prospective treatment group (TG) following the addition of adenosine to the PSVT treatment protocol in a large urban advanced life support emergency medical services system. The population represented patientsor = 18 years of age with PSVT diagnosed by the paramedic (defined as spontaneous onset of a regular narrow-complex tachycardia between 140 and 250 beats/minute).The CG comprised 74 calls and the TG 137 calls. The overall CR was higher in the TG (59% vs 32%, p0.001). The SEC and spontaneous conversion rates remained unchanged. The proportion of untreated patients with PSVT decreased from 26% CG to 12% TG (p0.01). Scene times were longer in the TG (26 vs 19 minutes, p0.001). Agreement between paramedic and physician rhythm strip interpretations was fair to moderate (CG kappa 0.43 [95% CI: 0.14, 0.72]; TG kappa 0.37 [95% CI: 0.13, 0.61]).The introduction of adenosine was associated with a significant increase in the prehospital CR of stable and unstable PSVT, while the SEC and spontaneous conversion rates were similar in each group; however, scene times were longer in the TG and paramedic accuracy in rhythm strip interpretation remained fair to moderate.

Paramedics are an important health human resource and are uniquely mobile in most communities across Canada. In the last dozen years, challenges in the delivery of health care have prompted governments from around the globe to consider expanding the role paramedics play in health systems. Utilizing paramedics for the management of urgent, low-acuity illnesses and injuries has been coined "community paramedicine," but the role, safety, and effectiveness of this concept are poorly understood.We undertook a systematic review of the international literature to describe existing community paramedic programs.We used the Cochrane methodology for systematic reviews. An international group of experts developed a search strategy and a health information specialist executed this search in Medline, Embase, and CINAHL starting January 1, 2000. We included all research articles in the English language that reported a research methodology. We excluded commentaries and letters to the editor. Two investigators independently screened citations in a hierarchical manner and abstracted data.Of 3,089 titles, 10 articles were included in the systematic review and one additional paper was author-nominated. The nature of the 11 articles was heterogeneous, and only one randomized controlled trial (RCT) was found. This trial showed community paramedicine to be beneficial to patients and health systems. The other articles drew conclusions favoring community paramedicine.Community paramedicine research to date is lacking, but programs in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada are perceived to be promising, and one RCT shows that paramedics can safely practice with an expanded scope and improve system performance and patient outcomes. Further research is required to fully understand how expanding paramedic roles affect patients, communities, and health systems.

Urban trauma systems are characterized by high population density, availability of trauma centers, and acceptable road transport times (within 30 minutes). In such systems, patients meeting field trauma triage (FTT) criteria should be transported directly to a trauma center, bypassing closer non-trauma centers.We evaluated emergency medical services (EMS) triage practices to identify opportunities for improving care delivery.Specifically, we evaluated the effect of the additional distance to a trauma center, compared with a closer non-trauma center, on the noncompliance with trauma destination criteria by EMS personnel in an urban environment.This was a retrospective cohort study of adults having at least one physiologic derangement and meeting Toronto EMS field trauma triage criteria from 2005 to 2010. Road travel distances between the site of injury, the closest non-trauma center, and the closest trauma center were estimated using geographic information systems. For patients who were transported to non-trauma centers, we estimated "differential distance": the additional travel distance required to transport directly to a trauma center. Logistic regression was used to analyze the effect of differential distance on triage decisions, adjusting for other patient characteristics.Inclusion criteria identified 898 patients; 53% were transported directly to a trauma center. Falls, female gender, and age greater than 65 years were associated with transport to non-trauma centers. Differential distances greater than 1 mile were associated with a decreased likelihood of triage to a trauma center.Differential distance between the closest non-trauma center and the closest trauma center was associated with lower compliance with triage protocols, even in an urban setting where trauma centers can be accessed within approximately 30 minutes. Our findings suggest that there are opportunities for reducing the gap between ideal and actual application of field trauma triage guidelines through a process of education and feedback.

Preventable harm from medical care has been extensively documented in the inpatient setting. Emergency medical services (EMS) providers care for patients in dynamic and challenging environments; prehospital emergency care is a field that represents an area of high risk for errors and harm, but has received relatively little attention in the patient safety literature.To identify the threats to patient safety unique to the EMS environment and interventions that mitigate those threats, we completed a systematic review of the literature.We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) for combinations of key EMS and patient safety terms composed by a pan-canadian expert panel using a year limit of 1999 to 2011. We excluded commentaries, opinions, letters, abstracts, and non-english publications. Two investigators performed an independent hierarchical screening of titles, abstracts, and full-text articles blinded to source. We used the kappa statistic to examine interrater agreement. Any differences were resolved by consensus.We retrieved 5,959 titles, and 88 publications met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into seven themes: adverse events and medication errors (22 articles), clinical judgment (13), communication (6), ground vehicle safety (9), aircraft safety (6), interfacility transport (16), and intubation (16). Two articles were randomized controlled trials; the remainder were systematic reviews, prospective observational studies, retrospective database/chart reviews, qualitative interviews, or surveys. The kappa statistics for titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were 0.65, 0.79, and 0.87, respectively, for the first search and 0.60, 0.74, and 0.85 for the second.We found a paucity of scientific literature exploring patient safety in EMS. Research is needed to improve our understanding of problem magnitude and threats to patient safety and to guide interventions.

The out-of-hospital setting is unique to health care and presents many challenges to providing safe, high-quality medical care in emergency situations. The challenges of the prehospital environment require thoughtful design of systems and processes of care. The unique challenges of ambulance safety may be met by analyzing systems and incorporating process improvements. The purposes of this paper are to 1) outline the nature of this problem, 2) introduce a framework for this discussion, 3) provide expert opinion from a two-day ambulance safety conference, and 4) propose a plan of action to address the safety issues identified in the literature and expert opinion at the conference. Utilizing the Haddon Matrix as a framework, we present the safety issues and proposed solutions for factors contributing to an injury event in the emergency medical services (EMS) transport environment: host, agent, physical environment, and social environment. Host refers to the person or persons at risk, in this case, the EMS personnel or the patient. The agent of injury refers to the energy exerted during the course of an injury, and may be modified to include unrestrained equipment that contributes to the injury. The physical environment refers to the characteristics of the setting in which the injury takes place, such as the roadway or the physical design of the ambulance. Finally, the social environment refers to the social, legal, and cultural norms and practices in the society, such as peer pressure and a culture that discourages the use of safety equipment.

In 2005, the American Heart Association (AHA) released guidelines to improve survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).To determine if, and when, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies participating in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) implemented these guidelines.We contacted 178 EMS agencies and completed structured telephone interviews with 176 agencies. The survey collected data on specific treatment protocols before and after implementation of the 2005 guidelines as well as the date of implementation crossover (the "crossover date"). The crossover date was then linked to a database describing the size, type, and structure of each agency. Descriptive statistics and regression were used to examine patterns in time to crossover.The 2005 guidelines were implemented by 174 agencies (99%). The number of days from guideline release to implementation was as follows: mean 416 (standard deviation 172), median 415 (range 49-750). There was no difference in time to implementation in fire-based agencies (mean 432), nonfire municipal agencies (mean 365), and private agencies (mean 389, p = 0.31). Agencies not providing transport took longer to implement than agencies that transported patients (463 vs. 384 days, p = 0.004). Agencies providing only basic life support (BLS) care took longer to implement than agencies who provided advanced life support (ALS) care (mean 462 vs. 397 days, p = 0.03). Larger agencies (10 vehicles) were able to implement the guidelines more quickly than smaller agencies (mean 386 vs. 442 days, p = 0.03). On average, it took 8.9 fewer days to implement the guidelines for every 50% increase in EMS-treated runs/year to which an agency responded.ROC EMS agencies required an average of 416 days to implement the 2005 AHA guidelines for OHCA. Small EMS agencies, BLS-only agencies, and nontransport agencies took longer than large agencies, agencies providing ALS care, and transport agencies, respectively, to implement the guidelines. Causes of delays to guideline implementation and effective methods for rapid EMS knowledge translation deserve investigation.

In 2005, a prehospital stroke screening tool was implemented in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Patients identified by paramedics through the use of this tool in the field were transported to a regional stroke center under an acute stroke protocol.To determine the positive predictive value (PPV) of the Ontario Prehospital Stroke Screening Tool for identification of acute stroke at a single stroke center.We conducted a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients transported to a regional stroke center under the prehospital acute stroke protocol over a 12-month period. Final diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes were abstracted from a provincial registry. Rates of fibrinolysis were compared with those for the 12-month period prior to implementation of the stroke protocol.Three hundred twenty-five patients were triaged under the emergency medical services (EMS) acute stroke protocol over the study period. The PPV of the screening tool was 89.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 85.7-92.7%) for acute stroke. Thirty-four patients (11%) had nonstroke conditions, with the most common being seizure (4%). The rate of administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for all patients with suspected stroke increased from 5.9% to 10.1% (p = 0.04) compared with the rate in the 12-month period prior to implementation of the acute stroke protocol. The tPA rate for patients arriving under the stroke protocol was 17.2%. Most patients (75%) receiving tPA arrived from outside the hospital catchment area.In this preliminary study, the Ontario Prehospital Stroke Screening Tool had a high PPV for acute stroke and appeared to be effective for identifying patients who required triage to a single regional stroke center. Following implementation of a citywide acute stroke protocol using this screening tool, we observed an increase in the number of patients who were eligible for and received fibrinolysis at our stroke center.