Emergency Medical Services Providers Research Articles

Emergency Medical Services resource capacity and competency amid COVID-19 in the United States: preliminary findings from a national survey

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate available resources, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) availability, sanitation practices, institutional policies, and opinions among EMS professionals in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic using a self-report survey questionnaire. MethodsAn online 42-question multiple choice survey was randomly distributed between April 1, 2020, and April 16, 2020 to various active Emergency Medical Services (EMS) paid personnel in all 50 U.S. states including the District of Columbia (n = 192). We approximate a 95% confidence interval (±0.07). ResultsAn overwhelming number of EMS providers report having limited access to N95 respirators, receiving little or no benefits from COVID-19 related work, and report no institutional policy on social distancing practices despite CDC recommendations. For providers who do have access to N95 respirators, 31% report having to use the same mask for 1 week or longer. Approximately ⅓ of the surveyed participants were unsure of when a COVID-19 patient is infectious. The data suggests regular decontamination of EMS equipment after each patient contact is not a regular practice. DiscussionCurrent practices to educate EMS providers on appropriate response to the novel coronavirus may not be sufficient, and future patients may benefit from a nationally established COVID-19 EMS response protocol. Further investigation on whether current EMS practices are contributing to the spread of infection is warranted. The data reveals concerning deficits in COVID-19 related education and administrative protocols which pose as a serious public health concern that should be urgently addressed.

911 and the area code from which you call: How to improve the disparity in California's Emergency Medical Services.

Thirty-three separate local emergency medical services (EMS) authority agencies serve the 58 counties in California. Each local emergency medical services agency dictates widely different treatment and trans-port protocols for its paramedics. Although previous research has established the problem of geographic EMS dis-parities, nothing definitively explains their cause. We analyze California's most recently available EMS performance-measure data to determine if there is still disparity in EMS patient care and patient outcomes in California. If there is a disparity, we determine whether the differences are accounted for by socioeconomic factors, geographical differences, or population size, by combin-ing California EMS data with other state and county level data. If none of these factors are significantly correlated, this supports the hypothesis that something different, such as system structure, could be a potential cause of Califor-nia's EMS disparities. As a secondary analysis, we attempt to replicate these types of analyses at national and inter-national levels, which could potentially permit a structural comparison as well. There is still disparity in EMS patient care and patient outcomes in California. Regression analyses did not identify a single factor to explain the disparity in performance measures. Most notably, the regression found that basic socioeconomic factors and geographical differences frequently speculated as common drivers for disparity of services, including median income, population density, and availability of specialty care facilities, did not account for the disparity in services. Unfortunately, the striking lack of performance-measure data-a data desert-for EMS throughout the United States meant that the secondary analyses were inconclusive. Based on these results, we propose three recommendations:(1) most importantly, the lack of data must be addressed. Data collection should be standardized and mandatory for all EMS providers. (2) Treatment protocols for the state should be standardized and based on the latest evidence-based research. Providers should be required to offer the same level of care, to all geographic re-gions. (3) It may be beneficial to consider restructuring the California EMS system. While the research is limited due to imperfect information, consolidated systems seem to perform better. An existing framework for this already exists.

Endovascular Therapy for Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Proposed Algorithm.

Endovascular Therapy for Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Proposed Algorithm.

Analysis of the factors related to the infection control practice of 119 emergency medical service providers based on the PRECEDE model

Analysis of the factors related to the infection control practice of 119 emergency medical service providers based on the PRECEDE model

Evolution of emergency medical services in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Emergency medical services (EMS) is crucial to any healthcare system, especially in urban countries. The Kingdom of Bahrain has always strived to develop healthcare services throughout the Kingdom including EMS. Like any other country, the Kingdom has gone through several stages in the provision of EMS. This article will focus on the development of EMS in the Kingdom and its evolution from a scattered hospital-based system to a unified system, which ensures ease of access for the population and speed of delivery to the healthcare facilities. The major focus will be the most recent national project which is the National Ambulance.

The Impacts of Obstetrical Simulation Training for Emergency Medical Service Providers [40G

INTRODUCTION: Obstetrical emergencies in the field require coordinated time-sensitive teamwork between emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital-based teams. Simulation is effective at preparation for emergencies. The study objective was to determine the educational and clinical impacts of simulation training sessions for emergency medical service personnel by obstetrical teams within the same communities. METHODS: A multi-center prospective pre/post educational study design was used to assess the effectiveness of a curriculum designed for emergency medical service providers on obstetrical emergencies. Instructional strategies included team-based checklist review and skills coaching using low-fidelity task trainers, taught by interdisciplinary teams. Outcomes were measured using pre/post educational tests, team performance assessments, course evaluations and clinical impacts. Internal review board exemption was obtained. Paired t-tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Over 18 months, 185 EMS personnel participated in the curriculum taught at 2 community hospitals. Instructors included obstetricians, emergency physicians, nurses, and medical students. Significant improvement in knowledge was achieved (pre 47.8%, post 89.6%, P<.0001). Confidence (1=high, 5=low) improved in managing precipitous delivery (pre 3.77, post 1.52, P<.0001), shoulder dystocia (pre 4.0, post 1.48, P<.0001), eclampsia (pre 2.68, post 1.29, P<.0001), breech (pre 4.68, post 2.21, P<.0001), and PPH (pre 3.68, post 1.33, P<.0001). Team performance assessments demonstrated significant improvement (pre 68.54%, post 93.54%, P<.0001). Qualitative clinical impacts included improvements to EMS protocols, transfer of care and communication between teams. CONCLUSION: Simulation training in obstetrical emergencies for emergency medical service providers improves knowledge, skills, and performance. Instruction by obstetrical teams in the same communities enhances communication and collaborative care.

Retrospective Study of Midazolam Protocol for Prehospital Behavioral Emergencies.

IntroductionAgitated patients in the prehospital setting pose challenges for both patient care and emergency medical services (EMS) provider safety. Midazolam is frequently used to control agitation in the emergency department setting; however, limited data exist in the prehospital setting. We describe our experience treating patients with midazolam for behavioral emergencies in a large urban EMS system. We hypothesized that using midazolam for acute agitation leads to improved clinical conditions without causing significant clinical deterioration.MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of EMS patient care reports following implementation of a behavioral emergencies protocol in a large urban EMS system from February 2014–June 2016. For acute agitation, paramedics administered midazolam 1 milligram (mg) intravenous (IV), 5 mg intramuscular (IM), or 5 mg intranasal (IN). Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Levene’s test for assessing variance among study groups, and t-test to evaluate effectiveness based on route.ResultsIn total, midazolam was administered 294 times to 257 patients. Median age was 30 (interquartile range 24–42) years, and 66.5% were male. Doses administered were 1 mg (7.1%) and 5 mg (92.9%). Routes were IM (52.0%), IN (40.8%), and IV (7.1%). A second dose was administered to 37 patients. In the majority of administrations, midazolam improved the patient’s condition (73.5%) with infrequent adverse events (3.4%). There was no significant difference between the effectiveness of IM and IN midazolam (71.0% vs 75.4%; p = 0.24).ConclusionA midazolam protocol for prehospital agitation was associated with reduced agitation and a low rate of adverse events.

Prehospital Disposition and Patient Outcomes in Cardiac Arrest AFTER Resuscitation Termination Protocol Change in an Urban Setting.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of death in the United States, and efforts have been made to develop termination of resuscitation protocols utilizing clinical criteria predictive of successful resuscitation and survival to discharge. A termination of resuscitation protocol utilizing longer resuscitation time and end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) monitoring criteria for termination was implemented for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers in an urban prehospital system in 2017. This study examines the effect the modified termination of resuscitation protocol had on rates of patient transport to a hospital, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and survival to discharge. A retrospective analysis was performed utilizing data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) database. A total of 1,005 prehospital cardiac arrest patients 18 years and older from 2016 through 2017 were included in the analysis. Patients with traumatic cardiac arrest or had valid do-not-resuscitate orders were excluded. Unadjusted analysis using chi-square statistics was performed, including an analysis stratified by Utstein style reporting. Adjusted analysis was also performed using logistic regression with multiple imputation for missing values. Unadjusted analysis showed a significant decrease in ROSC on emergency department (ED) arrival (30% versus 13%; P <.001) following the change in protocol. There was no significant difference in patient transport rate (62%) and a statistically non-significant decrease in overall survival (15% versus 11%). When stratified by Utstein style analysis, statistically significant decreases in ED arrival with ROSC were seen for unwitnessed asystolic, as well as bystander witnessed asystolic, pulseless electrical activity (PEA), and shockable OHCA. Adjusted analysis showed a decreased likelihood of ROSC with the protocol change (0.337; 95% CI, 0.235-0.482). The modification of termination of resuscitation protocol was not associated with a statistically significant change in transport rate or survival. A significant decrease in rate of arrivals to the ED with ROSC was seen, particularly for bystander witnessed OHCA.

GRACE: Generating Summary Reports Automatically for Cognitive Assistance in Emergency Response

EMS (emergency medical service) plays an important role in saving lives in emergency and accident situations. When first responders, including EMS providers and firefighters, arrive at an incident, they communicate with the patients (if conscious), family members and other witnesses, other first responders, and the command center. The first responders utilize a microphone and headset to support these communications. After the incident, the first responders are required to document the incident by filling out a form. Today, this is performed manually. Manual documentation of patient summary report is time-consuming, tedious, and error-prone. We have addressed these form filling problems by transcribing the audio from the scene, identifying the relevant information from all the conversations, and automatically filling out the form. Informal survey of first responders indicate that this application would be exceedingly helpful to them. Results show that we can fill out a model summary report form with an F1 score as high as 94%, 78%, 96%, and 83% when the data is noise-free audio, noisy audio, noise-free textual narratives, and noisy textual narratives, respectively.

Survival and Rearrest in out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients with Prehospital Return of Spontaneous Circulation: A Prospective Multi-Regional Observational Study

Objective We aimed to determine the factors associated with rearrest after prehospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and examine the factors associated with survival despite rearrest. Methods We conducted a prospective multi-regional observational study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients between August 2015 and July 2016. Patients received prehospital advanced cardiovascular life support performed by emergency medical technicians (EMTs). EMTs were directly supervised by medical directors (physicians) via real-time smartphone video calls [Smart Advanced Life Support (SALS)]. The study participants were categorized into rearrest (+) and rearrest (−) groups depending on whether rearrest occurred after prehospital ROSC. After rearrest, patients were further classified as survivors or non-survivors at discharge. Results SALS was performed in 1,711 OHCA patients. Prehospital ROSC occurred in 345 patients (20.2%); of these patients, 189 (54.8%) experienced rearrest [rearrest (+) group] and 156 did not experience rearrest [rearrest (−) group]. Multivariate analysis showed that a longer interval from collapse to first prehospital ROSC was independently associated with rearrest [odds ratio (OR) 1.081; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.050–1.114]. The presence of an initial shockable rhythm was independently associated with survival after rearrest (OR 6.920; 95% CI 2.749–17.422). As a predictor of rearrest, the interval from collapse to first prehospital ROSC (cut-off: 24 min) had a sensitivity of 77% and a specificity of 54% (AUC = 0.715 [95% CI 0.661–0.769]). Conclusions A longer interval from collapse to first prehospital ROSC was associated with rearrest, and an initial shockable rhythm was associated with survival despite the occurrence of rearrest. Emergency medical service providers and physicians should be prepared to deal with rearrest when pulses are obtained late in the resuscitation.

Determining ambulance destinations when facing offload delays using a Markov decision process

When emergency departments (EDs) are crowded and cannot accept incoming ambulance patients immediately, paramedics commonly continue to provide patient care until an ED bed becomes available. This delay in transferring a patient to the ED is referred to as ambulance offload delay (AOD). AOD is a pressing problem for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as it prolongs the time before paramedics are available to respond to other calls. This can negatively affect ambulance availability and patient safety. The objective of this study is to develop an ambulance destination policy to mitigate AOD, allowing patients to see physicians sooner, and returning ambulances to service more quickly. We formulate a discrete time, infinite-horizon, discounted Markov Decision Process (MDP) model to determine when it is advantageous to send appropriate patients to out-of-region EDs, which have longer transport times but shorter offload times. Based on the MDP model, an optimal ambulance destination policy is constructed using the policy iteration algorithm. A computational study is applied using 12-months of data from an EMS provider which experiences AOD regularly. We find that the optimal policies can significantly reduce AOD, time to bed for patients, and out-of-service time for paramedics at the expense of increased ambulances travel distances. The model can be generalized and used as a decision support tool for EMS systems to mitigate the impact of AOD on their operations.

Lights and Siren Transport and the Need for Hospital Intervention in Nontrauma Patients: A Prospective Study.

Background The use of lights and siren transport (LST) has been a matter of debate because of the short time savings and well-established increased risks for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and bystanders. Time-critical hospital intervention (TCHI) denotes urgently needed procedures that cannot be performed properly in an out-of-hospital setting. Since 2013, rapid transportation from the field, fast-track, is currently used for patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction, suspicion of acute stroke and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of LST was associated with the realization of TCHI for nontrauma cases within 15 minutes of hospital arrival, to quantify overtriage (LST without TCHI) and to identify the predictors of TCHI. Methods This is a monocentric prospective observational study of nontrauma patients transported by ambulance. Based on Ross et al.'s work in 2016 on trauma patients, TCHI procedures were developed by the study team. Descriptive statistics were used to determine whether the use of LST was associated with the realization of TCHI. Multivariable analyses determined the predictors of TCHI and compared clinical outcomes. Results On the 324 patients included, 67 (20.7%) benefitted from LST, with 40 (59.7%) receiving TCHI (p < 0.001). The overtriage rate was 40.3%. The most common medical TCHI was the fast-track (65.2% of all TCHI). LST was predictive of the need for TCHI (p < 0.001), as was the clinical condition of the patient and also when EMS providers expected TCHI. Conclusions A majority of the LST benefitted from TCHI with an overtriage rate of 40%. To reduce the rate of overtriage (LST without TCHI), LST should mainly be used for fast-track and when TCHI is expected by the EMS providers.

Mechanical Chest Compression Device for Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Nationwide Observational Study.

There are few studies on the use of a mechanical chest compression (meCC) device during transport in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The aim of our study was to compare the performance of an meCC device with that of manual chest compression during transport after OHCA. This study used data from the national cardiac arrest registry of patients with OHCA of presumed cardiac etiology. The primary exposure was the use of an meCC device by an Emergency Medical Services provider while transporting a patient to the emergency department. The primary endpoint was good cerebral performance category at discharge. We compared survival and neurologic outcomes between an meCC device group and a manual chest compression group. We also performed an interaction analysis to assess changes in study outcomes of meCC device use by the initial electrocardiogram (ECG) and transport time interval (TTI). Among 30,021 adult patients after OHCA with presumed cardiac etiology, an meCC device was used in 2357 (7.6%). After adjustment for possible confounders, there were no significant differences with respect to good neurologic recovery in the outcomes of patients who were treated with an meCC device and those who received manual chest compression (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.43-1.02) and survival to discharge (AOR 0.83; 95% CI 0.64-1.06). In the interaction model, the AOR of the meCC device study outcome did not interact with the initial ECG and TTI. The meCC device did not show better study outcomes than manual compression.

Prevention and Treatment of Device-Related Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries.

Prevention and Treatment of Device-Related Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries.

Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic.

IntroductionPrehospital and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are usually the first to respond to an individual’s urgent health needs, sometimes in emotionally charged circumstances. Because violence toward EMS providers in the Czech Republic is often overlooked and under-reported, we do not have a complete understanding of the extent of such violence, nor do we have recommendations from EMS professional organizations on how to resolve this problem in prehospital emergency medicine.MethodsWe conducted this study to explore the process of violence against EMS providers, using the Strauss/Corbin systematic approach of grounded theory to create a paradigm model. The participants in this research included personnel who had at least two years experience in the EMS systems of the city of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region, and who had been victims of violence. Our sample included 10 registered paramedics and 10 emergency medical technicians ages 23–33 (mean ± standard deviation: 27.7). The impact of communication during EMS delivery, in the context of violence from patients or their relatives, emerged as the core category and the main focus of our study. The five main groups of the paradigm model of violence against EMS personnel included causal, contextual and intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences.ResultsOf the 20 study participants, 18 reported experiencing an attack during the night shift. Ten participants experienced violence on the street, and 10 inside an ambulance. The perpetrators in all 18 cases were men. The behavior of EMS personnel plays a crucial role in how violent confrontations play out: nonprofessional behavior with drunken or addict patients increases the possibility of violence in 70% of cases.ConclusionWe found that paramedics and EMTs were exposed to verbal abuse and physical violence. However, in 10 of the violent encounters reported by our 20 participants, the attack was perpetrated by otherwise-ordinary people (ie, individuals with strong family support and good jobs) who found themselves in a very stressful situation. Thanks to grounded theory we learned that for all 20 participants there was a potential opportunity to prevent the conflict.

The Association of Trauma Center Transport and Long-term Functional Outcomes in Head-injured Older Adults Transported by Emergency Medical Services.

It is unclear whether trauma center care is associated with improved outcomes in older adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to management at nontrauma centers. Our primary objectives were to describe the long-term outcomes of older adults with TBI and to evaluate the association of trauma center transport with long-term functional outcome. This was a prospective, observational study at five emergency medical services (EMS) agencies and 11 hospitals representing all 9-1-1 transfers within a county. Older adults (≥55years) with TBI (defined as closed head injury associated with loss of consciousness and/or amnesia, abnormal Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score, or traumatic intracranial hemorrhage) and transported by EMS from August 2015 to September 2016 were eligible. EMS providers completed standardized data forms and emergency department (ED) and hospital data were abstracted. Functional outcomes were measured using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E) at 3- and 6-month intervals by telephone follow-up. Reasons for disabilities were coded as due to head injury, due to illness or injury to other part of body, or due to a mixture of both. To evaluate the association of trauma center transport and functional outcomes, we conducted multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses on multiple imputed data for 1) all patients with TBI and 2) patients with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage. We enrolled 350 patients with TBI; the median (Q1, Q3) age was 70 (61, 84)years, 187 (53%) were male, and 91 patients (26%) had traumatic intracranial hemorrhage on initial ED cranial computed tomography (CT) imaging. A total of 257 patients (73%) were transported by EMS to a Level I or II trauma center. Sixty-nine patients (20%) did not complete follow-up at 3 or 6months. Of the patients with follow-up, 119 of 260 patients (46%) had moderate disability or worse at 6months, including 55 of 260 patients (21%) who were dead at 6-month follow-up. Death or severe disabilities were more commonly attributed to non-TBI causes while moderate disabilities or better were more commonly due to TBI. On adjusted analysis, an abnormal GCS score, higher Charlson Comorbidity Index scores, and the presence of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage on initial ED cranial imaging were associated with worse GOS-E scores at 6months. Trauma center transport was not associated with GOS-E scores at 6months for TBI patients and in patients with traumatic intracranial hemorrhage on initial ED CT imaging. In older adults with TBI, moderate disability or worse is common 6months after injury. Over one in five of older adults with TBI died by 6months, usually due to nonhead causes. Patients with TBI or traumatic intracranial hemorrhage did not have improved functional outcomes with initial triage to a trauma center.

Increasing Comfort with Sensory Processing Difficulties in the Prehospital Setting: Pre-Post Study of Education and Sensory Tools in EMS Providers.

Interfacing with patients with sensory processing difficulties is challenging to healthcare providers and even more problematic for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the acute care setting. Sensory training may be an effective nonpharmacologic method to deal with these patient populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether an educational session and placement sensory tools would improve the comfort of EMS providers in the prehospital setting. EMS providers from two agencies in the Alabama Gulf EMS System were selected for this study. Preeducation questionnaires were administered to EMS providers to assess their frequency and comfort level in taking care of patients with sensory processing difficulties. The educational session included a video presentation of various topics related to sensory processing difficulties and education on sensory tools. Posteducation questionnaires were administered to EMS providers 3 months posteducational session to assess the use of sensory tools and their comfort in patient care. Comfort level was assessed on a Likert scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not comfortable at all and 10 being extremely comfortable. We performed descriptive statistics and the nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare medians. A total of 177 of 225 (78.6%) EMS providers completed the preeducation questionnaire. In the preeducation period, 159 (89.8%) EMS providers transported patients with sensory processing difficulties. The preeducation median comfort level was 7.5 (range 1-10). At postsurvey, 135 of 177 (76.3%) EMS providers received educational training; 37 (27.4%) used the sensory tools within the previous 3 months. The posteducation median comfort level was 8 (range 3-10). Pre- and post median comfort levels were significantly different using the Wilcoxon signed rank test (P = 0.006). Sensory training can be an effective method for EMS providers to increase comfort levels in taking care of patients with sensory difficulties. Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to confirm/refute these findings.

Abstract WP282: Use of Emergent Ambulance Transport With Lights and Siren Leads to Significant Time Savings for Inter-Facility Transfers of Patients With Large Vessel Occlusion

Introduction: When emergency medical services (EMS) responds to a field call for a patient experiencing stroke symptoms, the response is emergent, necessitating the use of lights and siren (L&amp;S) to allow for expedited transport to a stroke-capable center. With the expanded use of endovascular therapy (EVT) for large-vessel occlusion (LVO), many stroke-capable centers are transferring larger numbers of LVO patients to EVT-capable centers for definitive care. Interestingly, many EMS systems do not respond to or transport inter-facility transfers emergently with L&amp;S. This can potentially lead to delays in care and worse clinical outcomes. Given increased scrutiny surrounding the safety and utility of L&amp;S transport among EMS providers, we investigated the difference between emergent and non-emergent transfer of confirmed LVO stroke patients from two institutions with varied distances and traffic patterns. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of 127 consecutive inter-facility transfers for LVO from two facilities, Hospital A (38.5 miles) and Hospital B (5.5 miles), to the University of Michigan Comprehensive Stroke Center over 3 years and 2 years respectively. Transfers by helicopter (17/127; 13.4%) and those without available EMS data (9/127; 7.1%) were excluded. Final review included 50 cases from Hospital A and 51 from Hospital B. Run times and use of L&amp;S during transport were collected. A t-test was used to examine whether the observed differences in transport times were statistically significant. Results: Of the 50 transfers from Hospital A, 22 were transported without L&amp;S use and 28 with L&amp;S. The mean transport time was 44 minutes versus 35 minutes, respectively. From Hospital B, there were 14 transfers transported without L&amp;S use and 37 with L&amp;S. The mean transport time was 15 minutes versus 9 minutes, respectively. For both samples, p-value was &lt;0.01. Conclusion: Despite a small sample size, this analysis demonstrates significant time savings using L&amp;S during inter-facility transfer of stroke patients with confirmed LVO. While inherent risk is associated with the use of L&amp;S during EMS transport, judicious use for confirmed time-sensitive indications seems warranted.

Abstract TP237: Can We Improve Clinical Detection of Right Hemisphere Large Vessel Occlusion?

Introduction: The Emergency Medical Stroke Assessment (EMSA) is a six point stroke severity scale with one point each for gaze preference, facial droop, arm drift, leg drift, abnormal naming, and abnormal repetition that was developed to help emergency medical services (EMS) providers identify acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO). We hypothesized that the EMSA would detect left hemisphere LVO with a higher sensitivity than right hemisphere LVO. Methods: We trained 24 trauma system-based emergency communication center (ECC) paramedics in the EMSA. ECC-guided EMS in performance of the EMSA on patients with suspected stroke. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC), and 95% confidence interval (CI) of ECC-guided prehospital EMSA for right versus left hemisphere ICA or M1 occlusion. Results: We enrolled 569 patients from September 2016 through February 2018, out of which 236 had a discharge diagnosis of stroke and 173 had a diagnosis of AIS. We excluded patients with bilateral (n=21) and brainstem (n=21) AIS. There were 64 patients with left hemisphere AIS including 19 with LVO. There were 67 patients with right hemisphere AIS including 22 with LVO. A score of ≥ 4 points yielded a sensitivity of 84.2 (95% CI = 60.4-96.6) and specificity of 66.7 (51.1-80.0) for left hemisphere LVO compared to a sensitivity of 68.2 (45.1-86.1) and specificity of 73.9 (58.9-85.7) for right hemisphere LVO. For predicting a left hemisphere LVO, the AUC was 0.77 (0.65-0.90) compared to 0.66 (0.50-0.82) for right-sided LVO. Assigning 2 points for abnormal gaze yielded an AUC of 0.78 (0.66-0.91) versus 0.67 (0.52-0.83) for left and right hemisphere LVO, respectively. Conclusions: The EMSA, like the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) upon which it is based, is more sensitive to left compared to right hemisphere LVO. More heavily weighting abnormal gaze did not improve the sensitivity of the EMSA for right hemisphere LVO. There is no comparable data on the right versus left hemisphere performance of other prehospital scales. There is a need to develop sensitive tests of right hemisphere dysfunction that are suitable for use in the field.

Abstract WP295: Factors Influencing Ems Transport Time for Patients After Stroke in San Diego County

Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) play an important role as initial providers to stroke patients. Data of on scene and transport times for stroke patients with unbiased populations are rare. We explored the range of times for stroke patients to receive care on scene and transport to a stroke receiving center (SRC) in a region with 3.3 million residents, 18 SRCs and 19 ground transport advanced life support EMS agencies. This will inform researchers on prehospital stroke invervention and policy makers deliberating triage and stroke center designation. Methods: We included all patients with final hospital diagnosis of AIS, ICH, SAH, or TIA transported by EMS to a San Diego County SRC between July 2017 and December 2018 with computer automated dispatch record and base hospital record. Records were linked on EMS incident number, reviewed for accuracy. We analyzed scene and transport time, weekday vs. weekend, last known normal (LKN) to EMS enroute &lt; 6 hours (approximation of LKN to 911 call), EMS recognition of stroke, and final hospital diagnosis. Results: In total, 2,376 patients with final stroke diagnosis were transported between July 2017 and December 2018. In 1,514 (63.7%) cases, EMS recognized stroke. In these cases mean (±SD) scene time was 12.0 (±4.6) minutes and transport time 12.4 (±7.2). In stroke patients without EMS stroke recognition the mean (±SD) scene time was 14.8 (±5.7) (p=.0001) and transport time of 16.2 (±8.1) (p=.0001). Scene time (p=.002), EMS stroke recognition (p=.00001), weekend vs. weekday (p=.013), LKN to enroute &lt; 6 hours (p=.00001) were all correlated with shorter transport time; hospital stroke diagnosis (p=.56) was not. Linear regression indicated LKN to enroute &lt; 6 hours (p=.001) and EMS stroke recognition (p=.00001) were significant in determining shorter transport time. Conclusion: EMS transport time of stroke patients varies across our system. However, when EMS providers recognize a stroke patient, scene time decreases by nearly 3 minutes and transport time decreases by nearly 4 minutes compared with patients with stroke undetected until after hospital arrival. Additionally, patients with a shorter LKN to EMS enroute time have a shorter transport time, which may be clinically important for this time-sensitive condition.