Prehospital Critical Care Teams Research Articles

Clinicians’ experience of barriers and facilitators to care delivery of an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation service for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a qualitative survey

BackgroundOut-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival in the UK remains overall poor with fewer than 10% of patients surviving to hospital discharge. Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) is a developing therapy option that can improve survival in select patients if treatment begins within an hour. Clinicians' perspectives are a pivotal consideration to the development of effective systems for OHCA ECPR, but they have been infrequently explored. This study investigates clinicians' views on the barriers and facilitators to establishing effective systems to facilitate transport of OHCA patients for in-hospital ECPR.MethodsIn January 2023, Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) and Harefield Hospital developed an ECPR partnership pathway for conveyance of OHCA patients for in-hospital ECPR. The authors of this study conducted a survey of clinicians across both services looking to identify clear barriers and positive contributors to the effective implementation of the programme. The survey included questions about technical and non-technical barriers and facilitators, with free-text responses analysed thematically.ResultsResponses were received from 14 pre-hospital TVAA critical care and 9 in-hospital clinicians’ representative of various roles and experiences. Data analysis revealed 10 key themes and 19 subthemes. The interconnected themes, identified by pre-hospital TVAA critical care clinicians as important barriers or facilitators in this ECPR system included educational programmes; collectiveness in effort and culture; teamwork; inter-service communication; concurrent activity; and clarity of procedures. Themes from in-hospital clinicians’ responses were distilled into key considerations focusing on learning and marginal gains, standardising and simplifying protocols, training and simulation; and nurturing effective teams.ConclusionThis study identified several clear themes and subthemes from clinical experience that should be considered when developing and modelling an ECPR system for OHCA. These insights may inform future development of ECPR programmes for OHCA in other centres. Key recommendations identified include prioritising education and training (including regular simulations), standardising a ‘pitstop style’ handover process, establishing clear roles during the cannulation process and developing standardised protocols and selection criteria. This study also provides insight into the feasibility of using pre-hospital critical care teams for intra-arrest patient retrieval in the pre-hospital arena.

The association between geospatial and temporal factors and pre-hospital response to major trauma: a retrospective cohort study in the North of England

BackgroundMajor trauma is a leading cause of premature death and disability worldwide, and many healthcare systems seek to improve outcomes following severe injury with provision of pre-hospital critical care. Much research has focussed on the efficacy of pre-hospital critical care and advanced pre-hospital interventions, but less is known about how the structure of pre-hospital critical care services may influence response to major trauma. This study assessed the association between likelihood of pre-hospital critical care response in major trauma and factors important in the planning and development of those services: geographic isolation, time of day, and tasking mechanism.MethodsA local trauma registry, supported with data from the Trauma Audit and Research Network alongside additional information regarding pre-hospital management, identified patients sustaining major trauma admitted to Major Trauma Centres in the North of England. Data was extracted on location and time of incident, mechanism of injury, on-scene times, and presence or absence of pre-hospital critical care team. An isochrone map was constructed for 30-minute intervals to regional Major Trauma Centres, defining geographic isolation. Univariate logistic regression compared likelihood of pre-hospital critical care response to that of conventional ambulance response for varying degrees of geographic isolation, day or night period, and mechanism of injury, and multiple linear regression assessed the association between geographic isolation, service response and on-scene time.Results2619 incidents were included, with 23.3% attended by pre-hospital critical care teams. Compared to conventional ambulance services, pre-hospital critical care teams were more likely to respond major trauma in areas of greater geographic isolation (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.30–1.55, p < 0.005). There were significant differences in the mechanism of injury attended and no significant difference in response by day or night period. Pre-hospital critical care team response and increasing geographic isolation was associated with longer on-scene times (p < 0.005).ConclusionPre-hospital critical care teams are more likely to respond to major trauma in areas of greater geographic isolation. Enhanced pre-hospital care may mitigate geographic inequalities when providing advanced interventions and transport of severely injured patients. There may be an unmet need for pre-hospital critical care response in areas close to major hospitals.

Resuscitation with blood products in patients with trauma-related haemorrhagic shock receiving prehospital care (RePHILL): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial

SummaryBackgroundTime to treatment matters in traumatic haemorrhage but the optimal prehospital use of blood in major trauma remains uncertain. We investigated whether use of packed red blood cells (PRBC) and lyophilised plasma (LyoPlas) was superior to use of 0·9% sodium chloride for improving tissue perfusion and reducing mortality in trauma-related haemorrhagic shock.MethodsResuscitation with pre-hospital blood products (RePHILL) is a multicentre, allocation concealed, open-label, parallel group, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial done in four civilian prehospital critical care services in the UK. Adults (age ≥16 years) with trauma-related haemorrhagic shock and hypotension (defined as systolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg or absence of palpable radial pulse) were assessed for eligibility by prehospital critial care teams. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to receive either up to two units each of PRBC and LyoPlas or up to 1 L of 0·9% sodium chloride administered through the intravenous or intraosseous route. Sealed treatment packs which were identical in external appearance, containing PRBC–LyoPlas or 0·9% sodium chloride were prepared by blood banks and issued to participating sites according to a randomisation schedule prepared by the co-ordinating centre (1:1 ratio, stratified by site). The primary outcome was a composite of episode mortality or impaired lactate clearance, or both, measured in the intention-to-treat population. This study is completed and registered with ISRCTN.com, ISRCTN62326938.FindingsFrom Nov 29, 2016 to Jan 2, 2021, prehospital critical care teams randomly assigned 432 participants to PRBC–LyoPlas (n=209) or to 0·9% sodium chloride (n=223). Trial recruitment was stopped before it achieved the intended sample size of 490 participants due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The median follow-up was 9 days (IQR 1 to 34) for participants in the PRBC–LyoPlas group and 7 days (0 to 31) for people in the 0·9% sodium chloride group. Participants were mostly white (62%) and male (82%), had a median age of 38 years (IQR 26 to 58), and were mostly involved in a road traffic collision (62%) with severe injuries (median injury severity score 36, IQR 25 to 50). Before randomisation, participants had received on average 430 mL crystalloid fluids and tranexamic acid (90%). The composite primary outcome occurred in 128 (64%) of 199 participants randomly assigned to PRBC–LyoPlas and 136 (65%) of 210 randomly assigned to 0·9% sodium chloride (adjusted risk difference –0·025% [95% CI –9·0 to 9·0], p=0·996). The rates of transfusion-related complications in the first 24 h after ED arrival were similar across treatment groups (PRBC–LyoPlas 11 [7%] of 148 compared with 0·9% sodium chloride nine [7%] of 137, adjusted relative risk 1·05 [95% CI 0·46–2·42]). Serious adverse events included acute respiratory distress syndrome in nine (6%) of 142 patients in the PRBC–LyoPlas group and three (2%) of 130 in 0·9% sodium chloride group, and two other unexpected serious adverse events, one in the PRBC-LyoPlas (cerebral infarct) and one in the 0·9% sodium chloride group (abnormal liver function test). There were no treatment-related deaths.InterpretationThe trial did not show that prehospital PRBC–LyoPlas resuscitation was superior to 0·9% sodium chloride for adult patients with trauma related haemorrhagic shock. Further research is required to identify the characteristics of patients who might benefit from prehospital transfusion and to identify the optimal outcomes for transfusion trials in major trauma. The decision to commit to routine prehospital transfusion will require careful consideration by all stakeholders.FundingNational Institute for Health Research Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation.

Feasibility of Prehospital Emergency Anesthesia in the Cabin of an AW169 Helicopter Wearing Personal Protective Equipment During Coronavirus Disease 2019

ObjectivePrehospital emergency anesthesia in the form of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) is a critical intervention delivered by advanced prehospital critical care teams. Our previous simulation study determined the feasibility of in-aircraft RSI. We now examine whether this feasibility is preserved in a simulated setting when clinicians wear personal protective equipment (PPE) for aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) for in-aircraft, on-the-ground RSI. MethodsAir Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex is a helicopter emergency medical service that uses an AW169 cabin simulator. Wearing full AGP PPE (eye protection, FFP3 mask, gown, and gloves), 10 doctor-paramedic teams performed RSI in a standard “can intubate, can ventilate” scenario and a “can't intubate, can't oxygenate” (CICO) scenario. Prespecified timings were reported, and participant feedback was sought by questionnaire. ResultsRSI was most commonly performed by direct laryngoscopy and was successfully achieved in all scenarios. The time to completed endotracheal intubation (ETI) was fastest (287 seconds) in the standard scenario and slower (370 seconds, P = .01) in the CICO scenario. The time to ETI was not significantly delayed by wearing PPE in the standard (P = .19) or CICO variant (P = .97). Communication challenges, equipment complications, and PPE difficulties were reported, but ways to mitigate these were also reported. ConclusionIn-aircraft RSI (aircraft on the ground) while wearing PPE for AGPs had no significant impact on the time to successful completion of ETI in a simulated setting. Patient safety is paramount in civilian helicopter emergency medical services, but the adoption of in-aircraft RSI could confer significant patient benefit in terms of prehospital time savings, and further research is warranted.

The contribution of helicopter emergency medical services in the pre-hospital care of penetrating torso injuries in a semi-rural setting

BackgroundAlthough the merit of pre-hospital critical care teams such as Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) has been universally recognized for patients with penetrating torso injuries who present with unstable physiology, the potential merit in patients initially presenting with stable physiology is largely undetermined. The ability to predict the required pre-hospital interventions patients may have important implications for HEMS tasking, especially when transport times to definitive care are prolonged.MethodsWe performed a retrospective cohort study of patients who sustained a penetrating torso injury and were attended by the Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (AAKSS) over a 6-year period. Primary outcome was defined as the percentage of patients with penetrating torso injuries requiring HEMS-specific interventions anytime between HEMS arrival and arrival at hospital. Secondary outcomes were the association of individual patient- and injury characteristics with the requirement for HEMS interventions.ResultsDuring the study period 363 patients met inclusion criteria. 90% of patients were male with a median age of 30 years. 99% of penetrating trauma incident occurred more than 10-min drive from a Major Trauma Centre (MTC). Presenting GCS was > 13 in 83% of patients. Significant hemodynamic- or ventilatory compromise was present in more than 25% of the patients. Traumatic cardiac arrest was present in 34 patients (9.4%), profound hypotension with SBP < 80 mmHg in 30 (8.3%) and oxygen saturations < 92% in 30 (8.3%). A total of 121 HEMS-specific interventions were performed. Although HEMS-specific interventions were associated with presenting physiology (TCA OR 1.75 [1.41–2.16], SBP < 80 mmHg (OR 1.40 [1.18–1.67] and SpO2 < 92% (OR 1.39 [1.17–1.65], a minority of the patients presented initially with stable physiology but deteriorated on route to hospital and required HEMS interventions (n = 9, 3.3%).ConclusionHEMS teams provide potentially important contribution to the pre-hospital treatment of patients with penetrating torso injuries in rural and semi-rural areas, especially when they present with unstable physiology. A certain degree of over-triage is inevitable in these patients, as it is hard to predict which patients will deteriorate on route to hospital and will need HEMS interventions. The results of this study showing a potentially predictable geographical dispersion of penetrating trauma could inform multi-agency knife crime prevention strategy.

Pediatric Prehospital Advanced Airway Management by Anesthesiologist and Nurse Anesthetist Staffed Critical Care Teams.

Prehospital pediatric tracheal intubation (TI) is a possible life-saving intervention that requires adequate experience to mitigate associated complications. The pediatric airway and respiratory physiology present challenges in addition to a relatively rare incidence of prehospital pediatric TI. The aim of this study was to describe characteristics and outcomes of prehospital TI in pediatric patients treated by critical care teams. This is a sub-group analysis of all pediatric (<16 years old) patients from a prospective, observational, multi-center study on prehospital advanced airway management in the Nordic countries from May 2015 through November 2016. The TIs were performed by anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists staffing six helicopter and six Rapid Response Car (RRC) prehospital critical care teams. In the study, 74 children were tracheal intubated, which corresponds to 3.7% (74/2,027) of the total number of patients. The pediatric patients were intubated by very experienced providers, of which 80% had performed ≥2,500 TIs. The overall TI success rate, first pass success rate, and airway complication rate were in all children (<16 years) 98%, 82%, and 12%. The corresponding rates among infants (<2 years) were 94%, 67%, and 11%. The median time on scene was 30 minutes. This study observed a high overall prehospital TI success rate in children with relatively few associated complications and short time on scene, despite the challenges presented by the pediatric prehospital TI.

Short-term and long-term survival in critical patients treated by helicopter emergency medical services in Finland: a registry study of 36 715 patients

ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe the short-term and long-term mortality of patients treated by prehospital critical care teams in Finland.Design and settingWe performed a registry-based retrospective study that included all...

Conducting a conventional multi-casualty incident in COVID-19 personal protective equipment - a semi-structured interview

BackgroundThe risk of COVID-19 transmission to healthcare professionals is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) presents a number of potential challenges to responders that may impact upon the management of patients in a multi-casualty incident.This report describes a multi-agency multi-casualty incident. It identifies learning points specifically related to the challenges of conducting a conventional multi-casualty incident in COVID-19 PPE.CaseThe multi casualty incident in Reading, UK on the 20 June 2020 involved six stab injury victims and was attended by four pre-hospital critical care teams. This was the first conventional multi-casualty incident that pre-hospital critical care teams had attended during the COVID-19 era and it was conducted in COVID-19 PPE (1). The scene was an urban park where three patients were confirmed to be in Traumatic Cardiac Arrest (TCA) from stab wounds and another three patients had also suffered stab injuries. By the time the incident had concluded three patients were pronounced dead at the scene. Two patients were transported to the local trauma unit and one patient was transported to the regional Major Trauma Centre depending on the severity of their injuries.ConclusionsWe conducted a semi structured telephone interview with the critical care clinicians who were involved in the incident. The interviews focused specifically on the challenges of responding whilst wearing COVID-19 PPE, rather than the wider challenges of responding to such an incident. The key learning points identified were:Improving the identifiability of clinicians in level 3 PPEwearing identification tabardsusing visible labelling on PPE suitsImproving communication by radiousing a belt to carry the radiousing an earpiece and push to talk system.Training in conducting multi casualty incidents in level 3 PPE.

Arterial and end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure difference during prehospital anaesthesia in critically ill patients.

Normoventilation is crucial for many critically ill patients. Ventilation is routinely guided by end-tidal capnography during prehospital anaesthesia, based on the assumption of the gap between arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2 ) and end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure (PetCO2 ) of approximately 0.5kPa (3.8mmHg). We retrospectively analysed the airway registry and patient chart data of patients who had been anaesthetised and intubated endotracheally by the prehospital critical care team and had their prehospital arterial blood gases analysed. Bland-Altman analysis was used to estimate the bias and limits of agreement. Altogether 502 patients were included in the study, with a median age of 58years. The most common patient groups were post-resuscitation (155, 31%), neurological emergencies (96, 19%), intoxication (75, 15%) and trauma (68, 14%). The median of the gap between PaCO2 and PetCO2 was 1.3kPa (interquartile range 0.7 to 2.2) (9.8 (5.3-16.5) mmHg). Mean bias of PetCO2 was -1.6kPa/12.0mmHg (standard deviation 1.7kPa/12.8mmHg) with 95% confidence limits of agreement -4.9 to 1.9kPa (-36.8 to 14.3mmHg). The gap was≥1.0kPa (>7.5mmHg) in 297 (66%, 95% confidence interval 55 to 63) patients. Our results suggest that end-tidal capnography alone might not be an adequate method to achieve normoventilation for critically ill patients intubated and mechanically ventilated in prehospital setting. Thus, an arterial blood gas analysis might be useful to recognize patients with an increased gap between PaCO2 and PetCO2 .

End-tidal and arterial carbon dioxide gradient in serious traumatic brain injury after prehospital emergency anaesthesia: a retrospective observational study

ObjectivesIn the UK, 20% of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) receive prehospital emergency anaesthesia (PHEA). Current guidance recommends an end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) of 4.0–4.5 kPa (30.0–33.8 mm...

Prehospital critical care is associated with increased survival in adult trauma patients in Scotland

BackgroundScotland has three prehospital critical care teams (PHCCTs) providing enhanced care support to a usually paramedic-delivered ambulance service. The effect of the PHCCTs on patient survival following trauma in Scotland...

The effect of prehospital critical care on survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A prospective observational study

AimTo examine the effect of prehospital critical care on survival following OHCA, compared to routine advanced life support (ALS) care. MethodsWe undertook a prospective multi-centre cohort study including two ambulance services and six prehospital critical care services in the United Kingdom (UK), between September 2016 and October 2017. Inclusion criteria were adult patients with non-traumatic OHCA treated by either prehospital critical care teams or ALS paramedics. Patients who received prehospital critical care were matched to those receiving ALS using propensity score matching. Primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge; secondary outcome was survival to hospital admission. ResultsThe primary analysis included 658 patients with OHCA receiving prehospital critical care and 1847 patients receiving ALS care. Rates of survival to hospital discharge (primary outcome) were 11.9% in both groups; rates of survival to hospital admission (secondary outcome) were 34.4% and 27.7% in the prehospital critical care and ALS group, respectively. The corresponding odds ratios for survival to hospital discharge and survival to hospital admission with prehospital critical care were 1.06 (95% confidence interval 0.75–1.49) and 1.39 (95% confidence interval 1.10–1.75), respectively. Results were consistent across subgroups and sensitivity analyses. ConclusionsDespite a positive association with the secondary outcome of survival to hospital admission, prehospital critical care was not associated with increased rates of survival to hospital discharge following OHCA.

Epidemiology and location of primary retrieval missions in a Scottish aeromedical service.

Prehospital critical care teams comprising an appropriately trained physician and paramedic or nurse have been associated with improved outcomes in selected trauma patients. These teams are a scarce and expensive resource, especially when delivered by rotary air assets. The optimal tasking of prehospital critical care teams is therefore vital and remains a subject of debate. Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) provides a prehospital critical care response team to incidents over a large area of Scotland either by air or by road. A convenience sample of consecutive EMRS missions covering a period of 18 months from May 2013 to January 2015 was taken. These missions were matched with the ambulance service information on geographical location of the incident. In order to assess the appropriateness of tasking, interventions undertaken on each mission were analysed and divided into two subcategories: 'critical care interventions' and 'advanced medical interventions'. A tasking was deemed appropriate if it included either category of intervention or if a patient was pronounced life extinct at the scene. A total of 1279 primary missions were undertaken during the study period. Of these, 493 primary missions met the inclusion criteria and generated complete location data. The median distance to scene was calculated as 5.6 miles for land responses and 34.2 miles for air responses. Overall, critical care interventions were performed on 17% (84/493) of patients. A further 21% (102/493) of patients had an advanced medical intervention. Including those patients for whom life was pronounced extinct on scene by the EMRS team, a total of 42% (206/493) taskings were appropriate. Overall, our data show a wide geographical spread of tasking for our service, which is in keeping with other suburban/rural models of prehospital care. Tasking accuracy is also comparable to the accuracy shown by other similar services.

EHAC medical working group best practice advice on the role of air rescue and pre hospital critical care at major incidents

BackgroundHelicopter EMS (HEMS) teams may perform a variety of clinical, managerial and transport functions during major incident management. Despite national and international variations in HEMS systems, the rapid delivery of HEMS personnel with advanced skills in major incident management and clinical scene leadership has been crucial to the delivery of an effective medical response at previous incidents. This document outlines the Best Practice Advice of the European HEMS and Air Ambulance Committee (EHAC) Medical Working Group on how HEMS and Pre Hospital Critical Care teams may maximise the positive impact of their resources in the event of Major Incidents.MethodsNarrative literature review and expert consensus.ResultsTo ensure a safe, coordinated and effective response, HEMS teams require suitable, proportionate and up to date major incident plans that are integrated into the major incident plans of other regional emergency and healthcare services. Role specific protocols, training and equipment should be adapted to the expected HEMS role in the major incident plan and likely regional threats. System and incident factors will influence HEMS utilisation during the major incident response and can include patient and staff transfer, equipment resupply, aerial assessment, search and rescue, clinical leadership and advanced care. During the recovery phase of a major incident there is a need to ensure restoration of conventional service and address the welfare of involved HEMS personnel. Standardised reporting of major incidents is strongly recommended for clinical governance, legal and research reasons.ConclusionsThe rapid delivery of HEMS personnel with advanced skills in Major Incident management and clinical scene leadership is crucial to the delivery of an effective medical response at Major Incidents.

Patient-tailored triage decisions by anaesthesiologist-staffed prehospital critical care teams: a retrospective descriptive study

ObjectivesThe primary objective was to estimate the incidence of patients in the Central Denmark Region triaged to bypass the local emergency department without being part of a predefined fast-track protocol....

Pre-hospital advanced airway management by anaesthetist and nurse anaesthetist critical care teams: a prospective observational study of 2028 pre-hospital tracheal intubations

BackgroundPre-hospital tracheal intubation success and complication rates vary considerably among provider categories. The purpose of this study was to estimate the success and complication rates of pre-hospital tracheal intubation performed by physician anaesthetist or nurse anaesthetist pre-hospital critical care teams. MethodsData were prospectively collected from critical care teams staffed with a physician anaesthetist or a nurse anaesthetist according to the Utstein template for pre-hospital advanced airway management. The patients served by six ambulance helicopters and six rapid response vehicles in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden from May 2015 to November 2016 were included. ResultsThe critical care teams attended to 32 007 patients; 2028 (6.3%) required pre-hospital tracheal intubation. The overall success rate of pre-hospital tracheal intubation was 98.7% with a median intubation time of 25 s and an on-scene time of 25 min. The majority (67.0%) of the patients' tracheas were intubated by providers who had performed >2500 tracheal intubations. The success rate of tracheal intubation on the first attempt was 84.5%, and 95.9% of intubations were completed after two attempts. Complications related to pre-hospital tracheal intubation were recorded in 10.9% of the patients. Intubations after rapid sequence induction had a higher success rate compared with intubations without rapid sequence induction (99.4% vs 98.1%; P=0.02). Physicians had a higher tracheal intubation success rate than nurses (99.0% vs 97.6%; P=0.03). ConclusionsWhen performed by experienced physician anaesthetists and nurse anaesthetists, pre-hospital tracheal intubation was completed rapidly with high success rates and a low incidence of complications. Clinical trial numberNCT 02450071.

Clinician tasking in ambulance control improves the identification of major trauma patients and pre-hospital critical care team tasking

IntroductionTrauma remains the fourth leading cause of death in western countries and is the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life. NICE guidance in 2016 advocated the attendance of pre-hospital critical care trauma team (PHCCT) in the pre-hospital stage of the care of patients with major trauma. Previous publications support dispatch by clinicians who are also actively involved in the delivery of the PHCCT service; however there is a lack of objective outcome measures across the current reviewed evidence base. In this study, we aimed to assess the accuracy of PHCCT clinician led dispatch, when measured by Injury Severity Score (ISS). MethodsA retrospective cohort study over a 2 year period pre and post implementation of a PHCCT clinician led dispatch of PHCCT for potential major trauma patients, using national ambulance data combined with national trauma registry data. ResultsA total of 99,702 trauma related calls were made to SAS including 495 major trauma patients with an ISS >15, and a total of 454 dispatches of a PHCCT. Following the introduction of a PHCCT clinician staffed trauma desk, the sensitivity for major trauma was increased from 11.3% to 25.9%. The difference in sensitivity between the pre and post trauma desk group was significant at 14.6% (95% CI 7.4%–21.4%, p < .001). DiscussionThe results from the study support the results from other studies recommending that a PHCCT clinician should be located in ambulance control to identify major trauma patients as early as possible and co-ordinate the response.

Prehospital triage of patients suffering severe dyspnoea using N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, the PreBNP trial: a randomised controlled clinical trial.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the addition of brain natriuretic peptide measurement to the routine diagnostic work-up by prehospital critical care team physicians improves triage in patients with severe dyspnoea. Prehospital critical care team physicians randomly assigned patients older than 18 years with severe dyspnoea to routine diagnostic work-up or diagnostic work-up with incorporated point-of-care N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurement. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with dyspnoea of primary cardiac origin triaged directly to a department of cardiology. A total of 747 patients were randomly assigned and 711 patients consented to participate, 350 were randomly assigned to the NT-proBNP group and 361 to the routine work-up group. NT-proBNP was measured in 90% (315/350) of patients in the NT-proBNP group and in 19% (70/361) of patients in the routine work-up group. There was no difference in the proportion of patients with dyspnoea of primary cardiac origin triaged directly to a department of cardiology between the NT-proBNP group and the routine work-up group (75% vs. 69%, P=0.22) in the intention-to-treat analysis. Sensitivity analysis according to the de facto diagnostics performed showed results consistent with this. No differences in hospital length of stay, intensive care unit admission rates or mortality between the NT-proBNP group and the routine work-up group were observed. Routine supplementary point-of-care measurement of NT-proBNP in patients with severe dyspnoea did not improve triage of patients with dyspnoea primarily caused by heart disease. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02050282.

Prehospital critical care for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: An observational study examining survival and a stakeholder-focused cost analysis.

BackgroundSurvival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remain low, despite remarkable efforts to improve care. A number of ambulance services in the United Kingdom (UK) have developed prehospital critical care teams (CCTs) which attend critically ill patients, including OHCA. However, current scientific evidence describing CCTs attending OHCA is sparse and research to date has not demonstrated clear benefits from this model of care.MethodsThis prospective, observational study will describe the effect of CCTs on survival from OHCA, when compared to advanced-life-support (ALS), the current standard of prehospital care in the UK. In addition, we will describe the association between individual critical care interventions and survival, and also the costs of CCTs for OHCA.To examine the effect of CCTs on survival from OHCA, we will use routine Utstein variables data already collected in a number of UK ambulance trusts. We will use propensity score matching to adjust for imbalances between the CCT and ALS groups. The primary outcome will be survival to hospital discharge, with the secondary outcome of survival to hospital admission.We will record the critical care interventions delivered during CCT attendance at OHCA. We will describe frequencies and aim to use multiple logistic regression to examine possible associations with survival.Finally, we will undertake a stakeholder-focused cost analysis of CCTs for OHCA. This will utilise a previously published Emergency Medical Services (EMS) cost analysis toolkit and will take into account the costs incurred from use of a helicopter and the proportion of these costs currently covered by charities in the UK.DiscussionPrehospital critical care for OHCA is not universally available in many EMS. In the UK, it is variable and largely funded through public donations to charities. If this study demonstrates benefit from CCTs at an acceptable cost to the public or EMS commissioners, it will provide a rationale to increase funding and service provision. If no clinical benefit is found, the public and charities providing these services can consider concentrating their efforts on other areas of prehospital care.Trial registrationISRCTN registry ID ISRCTN18375201.

PELVIC FRACTURES IN TRAUMA PATIENTS ATTENDED TO BY THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL RETRIEVAL SERVICE

Objectives & BackgroundPre-hospital application of pelvic binders is recommended by the 2016 NICE guidelines for Major Trauma in any patient with blunt high-energy trauma and suspected active bleeding from a...