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Background: In 2017 the Swedish public insurance company Löf published national guidelines for in-hospital trauma team activation (TTA), which are now widely adopted in Sweden. No studies have examined triage accuracy at non-trauma-center hospitals in the Stockholm trauma system since the implementation of the new TTA criteria., Aim: To assess trauma triage accuracy at one non-trauma-center hospital in Stockholm., Methods: 3528 trauma patients treated at Södersjukhuset during 2019-2022 were acquired from the Swedish Trauma Registry (SweTrau) to calculate TTA triage accuracy. Undertriage was defined in accordance with national guidelines as patients with a New Injury Severity Score > 15 who did not prompt level 1 TTA on arrival to hospital., Results: In total there were 849 severely injured patients during the study period, of which 2.2% (n = 19) prompted TTA level 1, corresponding to an undertriage of 98% (n = 830). Of the 849 severely injured patients, 41% (n = 348) prompted TTA level 2 whereas the remaining 57% (n = 482) prompted no TTA on arrival to hospital. There were a total of 3046 patients prompting TTA during the study period, but only 19% (n = 19) of level 1 and 12% (n = 348) of level 2 patients were severely injured, and 45% had a NISS ≤ 3., Conclusion: Undertriage of severely injured trauma patients was 98% according to the definition specified by Swedish trauma triage guidelines, higher than reasonably acceptable. There is considerable overtriage with non-severely injured patients prompting TTA. However, the suitability of using NISS > 15 to retrospectively define the need for TTA is debatable as this does not always correlate with the fulfillment of the TTA criteria. Further investigation of adherence to trauma triage guidelines in clinical practice may be of value to improve triage accuracy in organized regional trauma systems., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Ethical Review Authority in Sweden who also waived the need for informed consent (2022-06727-01). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, disturbing images of ambulances unable to respond to the demands for prehospital assistance appeared from several parts of the world. In Denmark, however, a notion occurred that the demands for emergency medical assistance declined. The purpose of this study was to compare the patients' use of the Danish Emergency Medical Services (EMS) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we investigated the overall mortality of the ambulance population, the main reason for calling the emergency medical dispatch centre, and the diagnosis assigned to the admitted patients., Methods: The study was a nationwide registry-based cohort study based on the national prehospital medical records and the Danish National Patient Registry. The primary outcome was the requested number of ambulances. Secondary outcomes included the primary reason for contact with the dispatch centre (reflected by the dispatch criteria), patient mortality, and the diagnoses assigned to the patients transported to the hospital by ambulance during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark in March-December 2020. Comparisons were made using a similar period in 2019 before the pandemic., Results: In comparison with the baseline values before the pandemic, the total number of patients treated by the EMS was reduced by 4.5% during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of patients transported to the hospital during the pandemic was similarly reduced by 3.5%. Compared with baseline values, fewer were patients hospitalised with respiratory diseases during the pandemic (a reduction of 53.3% from April 2019 to April 2020). Compared to the baseline period, there were significant increases in both the 48-h mortality (from 1.4% to 1.5%) and the 30-day mortality (from 4.9% to 5.4%) (p < 0.03 and p < 0.001, respectively), in patients hospitalised during the pandemic., Conclusion: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Danish EMS experienced an overall reduction in the requests for and the use of ambulances and, especially, in the number of patients admitted to hospitals for respiratory diseases. Despite the overall reduction in EMS requests, the mortality of the ambulance population increased, indicating that despite the reduced ambulance use, the prehospital population was more severely ill during the pandemic., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aim: The study aimed to investigate whether a bystander's emotional stress state affects dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DA-CPR) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The primary outcome was initiation of chest compressions (Yes/No). Secondarily we analysed time until chest compressions were initiated and assessed how dispatchers instructed CPR., Method: The study was a retrospective, observational study of OHCA emergency calls from the Capital Region of Denmark. Recorded calls were evaluated by five observers using a pre-defined code catalogue regarding the variables wished investigated., Results: Included were 655 OHCA emergency calls, of which 211 callers were defined as emotionally stressed. When cardiac arrest was recognized, chest compressions were initiated in, respectively, 76.8% of cases with an emotionally stressed caller and 73.9% in cases with a not emotionally stressed caller (2.18 (0.80-7.64)). Cases with an emotionally stressed caller had a longer time until chest compressions were initiated compared to cases with a not emotionally stressed caller, however non-significant (164 s. vs. 146 s.; P = 0.145). The dispatchers were significantly more likely to be encouraging and motivating, and to instruct on speed and depth of chest compressions in cases with an emotionally stressed caller compared to cases with a not emotionally stressed caller (1.64 (1.07-2.56); 1.78 (1.13-2.88)). Barriers to CPR were significantly more often reported in cases with an emotionally stressed caller compared to cases with a not emotionally stressed caller (1.83 (1.32-2.56))., Conclusion: There was no significant difference in initiation of chest compressions or in time until initiation of chest compressions in the two groups. However, the dispatchers were overall more encouraging and motivating, and likely to instruct on speed and depth of chest compressions when the caller was emotionally stressed. Furthermore, barriers to CPR were more often reported in cases with an emotionally stressed caller compared to cases with a not emotionally stressed caller., Trial Registration: We applied for ethical approval from The Danish National Committee on Health Research Ethics, but formal approval was waived. We received permission for storage of data and to use these for research of OHCAs in the Capital Region of Denmark by Danish Data Protection Agency (P-2021-670) and Danish Health Authorities (R-2,005,114). The study is registered at ClinicalTrials (NTC05113706)., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Parents often contact out-of-hours services due to worry concerning febrile children, despite the children rarely being severely ill. As telephone triage of children is challenging, many children are referred to hospital assessment. This study investigated if video triage resulted in more children staying at home. Secondary aims included safety, acceptability and feasibility of this new triage tool., Methods: In this prospective quality improvement study, nurse call-handlers enrolled febrile children aged 3 months-5 years to video or telephone triage (1:1), with follow-up within 48 h after call. The setting was an out-of-hours call-center for non-urgent illness in Copenhagen, Denmark, receiving over 1 million calls annually and predominately staffed by registered nurses. Main outcome measure was difference in number of children assessed at hospital within 8 h after call between video-and telephone triage group. Rates of feasibility, acceptability and safety (death, lasting means, transfer to intensive care unit) were compared between the triage groups., Results: There was no difference in triage outcome (home care vs. hospital referral) or number of patients assessed at hospital between triage groups. However, more video triaged patients received in-hospital treatment, testing and hospitalization., Conclusion: Video triage was feasible to conduct, acceptable to parents and as safe as telephone triage. The study did not show that more children stayed at home after video triage, possibly because the allocation strategy was not upheld, as video triage sometimes was chosen in cases of complex and severe symptoms, and this likely has changed study outcome., Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov.: Id NCT04074239. Registered 2019-08-30. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04074239., (© 2023. Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation.)

Background: Citizen responder programmes dispatch volunteer citizens to initiate resuscitation in nearby out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) before the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrival. Little is known about the interaction between citizen responders and EMS personnel during the resuscitation attempt. In the Capital Region of Denmark, emergency physicians are dispatched to all suspected OHCAs. The aim of this study was to evaluate how emergency physicians perceived the collaboration with citizen responders during resuscitation attempts., Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire. It included all 65 emergency physicians at Copenhagen EMS between June 9 and December 13, 2019 (catchment area 1.8 million). The questionnaire examined how emergency physicians perceived the interaction with citizen responders at the scene of OHCA (use of citizen responders before and after EMS arrival, citizen responders' skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and challenges in this setting)., Results: The response rate was 87.7% (57/65). Nearly all emergency physicians (93.0%) had interacted with a citizen responder at least once. Of those 92.5%(n = 49) considered it relevant to activate citizen responders to OHCA resuscitation, and 67.9%(n = 36) reported the collaboration as helpful. When citizen responders arrived before EMS, 75.5%(n = 40) of the physicians continued to use citizen responders to assist with CPR or to carry equipment. Most (84.9%, n = 45) stated that citizen responders had the necessary skills to perform CPR. Challenges in the collaboration were described by 20.7%(n = 11) of the emergency physicians and included citizen responders being mistaken for relatives, time-consuming communication, or crowding problems during resuscitation., Conclusion: Emergency physicians perceived the collaboration with citizen responders as valuable, not only for delivery of CPR, but were also considered an extra helpful resource providing non-CPR related tasks such as directing the EMS to the arrest location, carrying equipment and taking care of relatives., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: The European resuscitation council have highlighted emergency medical dispatch centres as an important key player for early recognition of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) and in providing dispatcher assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before arrival of emergency medical services. Early recognition is associated with increased bystander CPR and improved survival rates. The aim of this study is to describe OHCA call handling in emergency medical dispatch centres in Copenhagen (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway) with focus on sensitivity of recognition of OHCA, provision of dispatcher-assisted CPR and time intervals when CPR is initiated during the emergency call (NO-CPR prior ), and to describe OHCA call handling when CPR is initiated prior to the emergency call (CPR prior )., Methods: Baseline data of consecutive OHCA eligible for inclusion starting January 1st 2016 were collected from respective cardiac arrest registries. A template based on the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival definition catalogue was used to extract data from respective cardiac arrest registries and from corresponding audio files from emergency medical dispatch centres. Cases were divided in two groups: NO-CPR prior and CPR prior and data collection continued until 200 cases were collected in the NO-CPR prior -group., Results: NO-CPR prior OHCA was recognised in 71% of the calls in Copenhagen, 83% in Stockholm, and 96% in Oslo. Abnormal breathing was addressed in 34, 7 and 98% of cases and CPR instructions were started in 50, 60, and 80%, respectively. Median time (mm:ss) to first chest compression was 02:35 (Copenhagen), 03:50 (Stockholm) and 02:58 (Oslo). Assessment of CPR quality was performed in 80, 74, and 74% of the cases. CPR prior comprised 71 cases in Copenhagen, 9 in Stockholm, and 38 in Oslo. Dispatchers still started CPR instructions in 41, 22, and 40% of the calls, respectively and provided quality assessment in 71, 100, and 80% in these respective instances., Conclusions: We observed variations in OHCA recognition in 71-96% and dispatcher assisted-CPR were provided in 50-80% in NO-CPR prior calls. In cases where CPR was initiated prior to emergency calls, dispatchers were less likely to start CPR instructions but provided quality assessments during instructions.

Background: Dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DA-CPR) increases neurologically intact survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) according to several studies. This systematic review summarizes neurologically intact survival outcomes of DA-CPR in comparison with bystander-initiated CPR and no bystander CPR in OHCA., Methods: The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. All studies including adult and/or pediatric OHCAs that compared DA-CPR with bystander-initiated CPR or no bystander CPR were included. Primary outcome was neurologically intact survival at discharge, one-month or longer. Studies were searched for in PubMed (MEDLINE), EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale., Results: The search string generated 4742 citations of which 33 studies were eligible for inclusion. Due to overlapping study populations, the review included 14 studies. All studies were observational. The study populations were heterogeneous and included adult, pediatric and mixed populations. Some studies reported only witnessed cardiac arrests, arrests of cardiac ethiology, and/or shockable rhythm. The individual studies scored between six and nine on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale of risk of bias. The median neurologically intact survival at hospital discharge with DA-CPR was 7.0% (interquartile range (IQR): 5.1-10.8%), with bystander-initiated CPR 7.5% (IQR: 6.6-10.2%), and with no bystander CPR 4.4% (IQR: 2.0-9.0%) (four studies). At one-month neurologically intact survival with DA-CPR was 3.1% (IQR: 1.6-3.4%), with bystander-initiated CPR 5.7% (IQR: 5.0-6.0%), and with no bystander CPR 2.5% (IQR: 2.1-2.6%) (three studies)., Conclusion: Both DA-CPR and bystander-initiated CPR increase neurologically intact survival compared with no bystander CPR. However, DA-CPR demonstrates inferior outcomes compared with bystander-initiated CPR. Early CPR is crucial, thus in cases where bystanders have not initiated CPR, DA-CPR provides an opportunity to improve neurologically intact survival following OHCA. Variability in OHCA outcomes across studies and multiple confounding factors were identified.

Objective: Telephone triage manages patient flow in acute care, but a lack of visual cues and vague descriptions of symptoms challenges clinical decision making. We aim to investigate the association between the caller's subjective perception of illness severity expressed as "degree-of-worry" (DOW) and hospital admissions within 48 h., Design and Setting: A prospective cohort study was performed from January 24th to February 9th, 2017 at the Medical Helpline 1813 (MH1813) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The MH1813 is a primary care out-of-hours service., Participants: Of 38,787 calls received at the MH1813, 11,338 met the inclusion criteria (caller being patient or close friend/relative and agreement to participate). Participants rated their DOW on a 5-point scale (1 = minimum worry, 5 = maximum worry) before talking to a call handler., Main Outcome Measure: Information on hospitalization within 48 h after the call, was obtained from the Danish National Patient Register. The association was assessed using logistic regression in three models: 1) crude, 2) age-and-gender adjusted and 3) age, gender, co-morbidity, reason for calling and caller status adjusted., Results: A total of 581 participants (5.1%) were admitted to the hospital, of whom 170 (11.3%) presented with a maximum DOW, with a crude odds ratio (OR) for hospitalization of 6.1 (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.9 to 9.6) compared to minimum DOW. Estimates showed dose-response relationship between DOW and hospitalization. In the fully adjusted model, the ORs decreased to 3.1 (95%CI 2.0 to 5.0) for DOW = 5, 3.2 (2.0 to 5.0) for DOW = 4, 1.6 (1.0 to 2.6) for DOW = 3 and 0.8 (0.5 to 1.4) for DOW = 2 compared to minimum DOW., Conclusion: Patients' self-assessment of illness severity as DOW was associated with subsequent hospital admission. Further, it may be beneficial in supporting clinical decision making in telephone triage. Finally, it might be useful as a measure to facilitate patient participation in the triage process.

Background: In Europe, survival rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) vary widely. Presence/absence and differences in implementation of systems dispatching First Responders (FR) in order to arrive before Emergency Medical Services (EMS) may contribute to this variation. A comprehensive overview of the different types of FR-systems used across Europe is lacking., Methods: A mixed-method survey and information retrieved from national resuscitation councils and national EMS services were used as a basis for an inventory. The survey was sent to 51 OHCA experts across 29 European countries., Results: Forty-seven (92%) OHCA experts from 29 countries responded to the survey. More than half of European countries had at least one region with a FR-system. Four categories of FR types were identified: (1) firefighters (professional/voluntary); (2) police officers; (3) citizen-responders; (4) others including off-duty EMS personnel (nurses, medical doctors), taxi drivers. Three main roles for FRs were identified: (a) complementary to EMS; (b) part of EMS; (c) instead of EMS. A wide variation in FR-systems was observed, both between and within countries., Conclusions: Policies relating to FRs are commonly implemented on a regional level, leading to a wide variation in FR-systems between and within countries. Future research should focus on identifying the FR-systems that most strongly influence survival. The large variation in local circumstances across regions suggests that it is unlikely that there will be a 'one-size fits all' FR-system for Europe, but examining the role of FRs in the Chain of Survival is likely to become an increasingly important aspect of OHCA research.

Background: Telephone triage entails assessment of urgency and direction of flow in out-of-hours (OOH) services, while visual cues are inherently lacking. Triage tools are recommended but current tools fail to provide systematic assessment of the caller's perspective. Research demonstrated that callers can scale their degree-of-worry (DOW) in a telephone contact with OOH services, but its impact on triage response is undetermined. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between call-handlers' awareness of the caller's DOW and the telephone triage response., Methods: A randomized controlled trial at a Danish OOH service using telephone triage with quantitative analyses and qualitative process evaluation. Prior to contact with a call-handler, callers were asked to rate their DOW on a five-point scale. Calls were randomized to show or not show DOW on the call-handlers' screens. Triage response (telephone consultation or face-to-face consultation) was analysed using Chi-square tests. Process evaluation incorporated a quantitative and qualitative assessment of intervention implementation and fidelity., Results: Of 11,413 calls, 5705 were allocated to the intervention and 5708 to the control group. No difference in number of face-to-face consultations was detected between the two groups (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.14, p = 0.17). The process evaluation showed that call-handlers did not use the DOW systematically and were reluctant to use DOW., Conclusion: Awareness of DOW did not affect the triage response, but this finding could reflect a weak implementation strategy. Future studies should emphasise the implementation strategy to determine the effect of DOW on triage response., Trial Registration: Registration number, Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02979457 .

Background: A female survival advantage after injury has been observed, and animal models of trauma have suggested either hormonal or genetic mechanisms as component causes. Our aim was to compare age and risk-adjusted sex-related mortality in hospital for the three most common mechanisms of injury in relation to hormonal effects as seen by age., Methods: All hospital admissions for injury in Sweden during the period 2001-2011 were retrieved from the National Patient Registry and linked to the Cause of Death Registry. The International Classification of Diseases Injury Severity Score (ICISS) was used to adjust for injury severity, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index to adjust for comorbidity. Age categories (0-14, 15-50, and ≥ 51 years) were used to represent pre-menarche, reproductive and post- menopausal women., Results: Women had overall a survival benefit (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.50 to 0.53) after adjustment for injury severity and comorbidity. A similar pattern was seen across the age categories (0-14 years OR 0.56 (95% CI 0.25 to 1.25), 15-50 years OR 0.70 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.87), and ≥ 51 years OR 0.49 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.51))., Conclusion: In this 11-year population-based study we found no support for an oestrogen-related mechanism to explain the survival advantage for females compared to males following hospitalisation for injury.

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability with effective treatment, including thrombolysis or thrombectomy, being time-critical for favourable outcomes. While door-to-needle time in hospital has been optimized for many years, little is known about the ambulance on-scene time (OST). OST has been reported to account for 44% of total alarm-to-door time, thereby being a major time component. We aimed to analyse ambulance OST in stroke patients eligible for thrombolysis and identify potential areas of time optimization., Methods: A study-specific registration form was developed to record detailed information about OST consumption in cases where the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) suspected a stroke from July 2014-May 2015. Registration forms were completed by ambulance personnel and included details on estimated time spent: 1) localising patient, 2) clinical examination, 3) consulting with the on-call neurologist, 4) mobilising patient to the ambulance, 5) treatment in ambulance before departure. Additionally, estimated total OST was noted. For patients found eligible for further evaluation at a stroke centre, time points were analysed using multivariate Poisson regressions., Results: A total of 520 cases were included. The median OST was 21 min (Interquartile Range (IQR) 16-27). Time consumption was significantly lower (17 vs 21 min, p = 0.0015) when electrocardiography (ECG) was obtained in-hospital instead of on-scene, when intravenous (IV) access was established during transportation instead of before transportation (17 vs 21 min, p < 0.0001), and when the quality of communication with the stroke centres was rated as "good" as opposed to "acceptable/poor" (21 vs 23 min, p = 0.014). Neither the presence of relatives nor ambulance trainees had a significant effect on OST., Conclusions: In-hospital ECG recording and IV cannulation during transport were found to reduce OST, while "acceptable/poor" communication was found to prolong OST relative to "good" communication. These components of pre-hospital stroke management represent potential opportunities for lowering OST with relatively simple changes, which could ultimately lead to earlier treatment and better patient outcome., Trial Registration: Unique identifier: NCT02191514 .

Background: The interpretation of changes in injury-related mortality over time requires an understanding of changes in the incidence of the various types of injury, and adjustment for their severity. Our aim was to investigate changes over time in incidence of hospital admission for injuries caused by falls, traffic incidents, or assaults, and to assess the risk-adjusted short-term mortality for these patients., Methods: All patients admitted to hospital with injuries caused by falls, traffic incidents, or assaults during the years 2001-11 in Sweden were identified from the nationwide population-based Patient Registry. The trend in mortality over time for each cause of injury was adjusted for age, sex, comorbidity and severity of injury as classified from the International Classification of diseases, version 10 Injury Severity Score (ICISS)., Results: Both the incidence of fall (689 to 636/100000 inhabitants: p = 0.047, coefficient - 4.71) and traffic related injuries (169 to 123/100000 inhabitants: p < 0.0001, coefficient - 5.37) decreased over time while incidence of assault related injuries remained essentially unchanged during the study period. There was an overall decrease in risk-adjusted 30-day mortality in all three groups (OR 1.00; CI95% 0.99-1.00). Decreases in traffic (OR 0.95; 95% CI 0.93 to 0.97) and assault (OR 0.93; 95% CI 0.87 to 0.99) related injuries was significant whereas falls were not during this 11-year period., Discussion: Risk-adjustment is a good way to use big materials to find epidemiological changes. However after adjusting for age, year, sex and risk we find that a possible factor is left in the pre- and/or in-hospital care., Conclusions: The decrease in risk-adjusted mortality may suggest changes over time in pre- and/or in-hospital care. A non-significantdecrease in risk-adjusted mortality was registered for falls, which may indicate that low-energy trauma has not benefited for the increased survivability as much as high-energy trauma, ie traffic- and assault related injuries.

Background: Pre-hospital emergency care requires proper categorization of emergency calls and assessment of emergency priority levels by the medical dispatchers. We investigated predictors for emergency call categorization as "unclear problem" in contrast to "symptom-specific" categories and the effect of categorization on mortality., Methods: Register-based study in a 2-year period based on emergency call data from the emergency medical dispatch center in Copenhagen combined with nationwide register data. Logistic regression analysis (N = 78,040 individuals) was used for identification of predictors of emergency call categorization as "unclear problem". Poisson regression analysis (N = 97,293 calls) was used for examining the effect of categorization as "unclear problem" on mortality., Results: "Unclear problem" was the registered category in 18% of calls. Significant predictors for "unclear problem" categorization were: age (odds ratio (OR) 1.34 for age group 76+ versus 18-30 years), ethnicity (OR 1.27 for non-Danish vs. Danish), day of week (OR 0.92 for weekend vs. weekday), and time of day (OR 0.79 for night vs. day). Emergency call categorization had no effect on mortality for emergency priority level A calls, incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.99 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90-1.09). For emergency priority level B calls, an association was observed, IRR 1.26 (95% CI 1.18-1.36)., Discussions: The results shed light on the complexity of emergency call handling, but also implicate a need for further improvement. Educational interventions at the dispatch centers may improve the call handling, but also the underlying supportive tools are modifiable. The higher mortality rate for patients with emergency priority level B calls with "unclear problem categorization" could imply lowering the threshold for dispatching a high level ambulance response when the call is considered unclear. On the other hand a "benefit of the doubt" approach could hinder the adequate response to other patients in need for an ambulance as there is an increasing demand and limited resources for ambulance services., Conclusions: Age, ethnicity, day of week and time of day were significant predictors of emergency call categorization as "unclear problem". "Unclear problem" categorization was not associated with mortality for emergency priority level A calls, but a higher mortality was observed for emergency priority level B calls.

Background: The medical dispatcher plays an essential role as part of the first link in the Chain of Survival, by recognising the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) during the emergency call, dispatching the appropriate first responder or emergency medical services response, performing dispatcher assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and referring to the nearest automated external defibrillator. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate and compare studies reporting recognition of OHCA patients during emergency calls., Methods: This systematic review was reported in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines. We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library on 4 November 2015. Observational studies, reporting the proportion of clinically confirmed OHCAs that was recognised during the emergency call, were included. Two authors independently screened abstracts and full-text articles for inclusion. Data were extracted and the risk of bias within studies was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool for quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies., Results: A total of 3,180 abstracts were screened for eligibility and 53 publications were assessed in full-text. We identified 16 studies including 6,955 patients that fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in the systematic review. The studies reported recognition of OHCA with a median sensitivity of 73.9% (range: 14.1-96.9%). The selection of study population and the definition of "recognised OHCA" (threshold for positive test) varied greatly between the studies, resulting in high risk of bias. Heterogeneity in the studies precluded meta-analysis., Conclusion: Among the 16 included studies, we found a median sensitivity for OHCA recognition of 73.9% (range: 14.1-96.9%). However, great heterogeneity between study populations and in the definition of "recognised OHCA", lead to insufficient comparability of results. Uniform and transparent reporting is required to ensure comparability and development towards best practice.

Background: A medical emergency call is citizens' access to pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services. Emergency medical dispatchers are gatekeepers to provision of pre-hospital resources and possibly hospital admissions. We explored causes for access, emergency priority levels, and temporal variation within seasons, weekdays, and time of day for emergency calls to the emergency medical dispatch center in Copenhagen in a two-year study period (December 1(st), 2011 to November 30(th), 2013)., Methods: Descriptive analysis was performed for causes for access and emergency priority levels. A Poisson regression model was used to calculate adjusted ratio estimates for the association between seasons, weekdays, and time of day overall and stratified by emergency priority levels., Results: We analyzed 211,193 emergency calls for temporal variation. Of those, 167,635 calls were eligible for analysis of causes and emergency priority level. "Unclear problem" was the most frequent category (19%). The five most common causes with known origin were categorized as "Wounds, fractures, minor injuries" (13%), "Chest pain/heart disease" (11%), "Accidents" (9%), "Intoxication, poisoning, drug overdose" (8%), and "Breathing difficulties" (7%). The highest emergency priority levels (Emergency priority level A and B) were assigned in 81% of calls. In the analysis of temporal variation, the total number of calls peaked at wintertime (26%), Saturdays (16%), and during daytime (39%)., Conclusion: The pattern of citizens' contact causes fell into four overall categories: unclear problems, medical problems, intoxication and accidents. The majority of calls were urgent. The magnitude of unclear problems represents a modifiable factor and highlights the potential for further improvement of supportive dispatch priority tools or educational interventions at dispatch centers. Temporal variation was identified within seasons, weekdays and time of day and reflects both system load and disease occurrence. Data on contact patterns could be utilized in a public health perspective, benchmarking of EMS systems, and ultimately development of best practice in the area of emergency medicine.

Pain is a problem that often has to be addressed in the prehospital setting. The delivery of analgesia may sometimes prove challenging due to problems establishing intravenous access or a harsh winter environment. To solve the problem of intravenous access, intranasal administration of drugs is used in some settings. In cases where vascular access was foreseen or proved hard to establish (one or two missed attempts) on the scene of the accident we use nasally administered S-Ketamine for prehospital analgesia. Here we describe the use of nasally administered S-Ketamine in 9 cases. The doses used were in the range of 0,45-1,25 mg/kg. 8 patients were treated in outdoor winter-conditions in Sweden. 1 patient was treated indoor. VAS-score decreased from a median of 10 (interquartile range 8-10) to 3 (interquartile range 2-4). Nasally administered S-Ketamine offers a possible last resource to be used in cases where establishing vascular access is difficult or impossible. Side-effects in these 9 cases were few and non serious. Nasally administered drugs offer a needleless approach that is advantageous for the patient as well as for health personnel in especially challenging selected cases. Nasal as opposed to intravenous analgesia may reduce the time spent on the scene of the accident and most likely reduces the need to expose the patient to the environment in especially challenging cases of prehospital analgesia. Nasal administration of S-ketamine is off label and as such we only use it as a last resource and propose that the effect and safety of the treatment should be further studied.