The theme for this thesis is based on the European Resuscitation Council's guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation of 2015. One of the important points of these procedures is the use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED). These devices were developed for informed responders without the knowledge of cardiac rhythm diagnostics and allow to perform an early defibrillation of the heart, before the arrival of emergency services. AED is a sophisticated device that is a part of the equipment of I - firefighters and policemen. Training of these so-called first aid responders performs the local emergency service team. Over the years 2015 and 2016, the majority of the professionally active firefighters and police officers in one selected Czech district who have the automatic external defibrillator in their equipment attended a training in how to use this device. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether the concept of the training courses is sufficient. If the theoretical part is well understandable for the respondents, and whether the practical training is sufficient - not only the actual compressions and ventilation, but also the use of an automatic external defibrillator, or whether it would be appropriate to extend this training. In this research I used a quantitative method - an...

Dans un monde où les résidents sont continuellement évalués par les médecins, ce projet de recherche explore la perception de résidents en médecine d'urgence suite à l'obtention d'une rétroaction multisources provenant de médecins enseignants, d'infirmiers avec qui ils ont travaillé et de patients qu'ils ont soignés. Dans une urgence d'un centre universitaire tertiaire, dix résidents ont pris part à un processus de rétroaction multisources. Trois mois après cette intervention, ils ont participé à des entrevues semi-structurées visant à explorer leur perception de ce processus de rétroaction. Une analyse qualitative a permis de constater la valeur que peut avoir cette procédure pour la formation des résidents. Étant donné que les médecins qui enseignent à l'urgence offrent des rétroactions portant majoritairement sur l'expertise médicale, la rétroaction multisources permet d'offrir de la rétroaction sur un plus grand nombre de compétences (gestion, communication, collaboration, professionnalisme). La majorité des résidents affirment avoir modifié certains comportements ou façons de faire après l'obtention de cette rétroaction. L'information provenant des infirmiers et des patients s’avère être crédible, pertinente, mais surtout, les résidents jugent utile d'obtenir cette information dans leur formation en médecine d'urgence. / In a world where residents are continuously assessed by physicians, this present study explored residents’ perceptions of multisource feedback provided by their teaching physicians, nurses with whom they have worked, and patients they have treated. In the emergency department of a tertiary-care university hospital, ten emergency medicine residents participated in a multisource feedback intervention. Three months later, they participated in semi-structured group and individual interviews on their perception of the intervention. The qualitative analysis of these interviews shows the evident potential of using multisource feedback in resident formation. While physicians focused primarily on medical expertise, nurses and patients addressed many others competencies (management, communication, collaboration, professionalism). Residents concluded that obtaining feedback from nurses and patients was acceptable and useful in their training. Residents received information they found helpful, and the great majority of them reported having modified certain behaviours after obtaining this feedback. Multisource feedback appeared as an acceptable, credible and useful option for the assessment of medical competencies other than medical expertise in emergency residents.

Abstract Trauma patients are a significant patient group for emergency medical services (EMS). Not only are injuries a significant cause of death, they also have a significant long-term impact on functionality and quality of life. Previous studies have shown that the injury-related mortality rate is higher in sparsely populated areas and that the majority of patients die before the arrival of EMS. Intensive care mortality is significant, and half of seriously injured patients develop multiple organ dysfunction. Airway management is one of the most important procedures that EMS provide for a critically injured patient, but making high-quality care available in a sparsely populated area is challenging. Seriously injured patients also appear to benefit from being transported directly to a trauma centre. In recent years particular attention has been given to the level and availability of EMS. Hospitals’ readiness to provide acute surgery is also being reorganised. More information is needed about the frequency, circumstances, outcome and acute care of serious and fatal injuries so that health care resources can be allotted appropriately and requirements for prevention can be identified. The purpose of this research was to investigate the frequency and circumstances of injury-related deaths in Northern Finland and the prognosis of trauma patients encountered by the Finnish helicopter emergency services (FinnHEMS). A particular objective was to examine differences between rural and urban areas. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) severity score’s ability to predict 30-day mortality was also examined. The fourth part of the study aimed to investigate the pre-hospital airway management performed by non-physicians in Northern Finland. The study material was comprised of trauma deaths that occurred in Northern Finland in 2007–2011, trauma patients encountered by FinnHEMS units in Northern Finland in 2012–2013, patients encountered by HEMS in Northern Norway in 1999–2009 and a questionnaire regarding pre-hospital airway management to non-physicians. The study concluded that the rate of trauma deaths is high in Northern Finland, and the influence of alcohol was found in nearly half of pre-hospital trauma death cases. A larger portion of pre-hospital deaths also took place in rural areas. Trauma patients encountered by FinnHEMS units in urban areas who survived to hospital, appeared to have higher 30-day mortality than patients injured in rural areas. The most probable explanation for this difference is that patients injured in urban areas survive to hospital, while trauma patients in rural areas die pre-hospital. The NACA score was found to reliably predict 30-day mortality. Due to its simplicity, the NACA score can be used to compare patient material from different HEMS bases. It was found that non-physicians seldom performed airway management. On average, the frequency of performing airway management was low, and there is a need to improve maintenance of skills. / Tiivistelmä Vammapotilaat ovat merkittävä ensi- ja tehohoidon potilasryhmä. Paisi, että vammautumiset ovat merkittävä kuolinsyy, aiheuttavat ne myös merkittäviä pitkäaikaisvaikutuksia toimintakykyyn ja elämänlaatuun. Aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa on osoitettu, että vammakuolleisuus on yleisempää harvaanasutuilla seuduilla ja valtaosa potilaista kuolee jo ennen ensihoidon saapumista paikalle. Tehohoitokuolleisuus on merkittävää ja puolet vaikeasti loukkaantuneista potilaista kärsii monielinvauriosta. Ensihoidon tärkeimpiä tehtäviä kriittisesti vammautuneilla on hengitystien varmistaminen, mutta korkeatasoisen hoidon saatavuus harvaanasutulla seudulla on haasteellista. Vaikeasti vammautuneet potilaat näyttävät myös hyötyvän kuljetuksesta suoraan lopulliseen hoitopaikkaan. Viime vuosina ensihoidon tasoon ja saatavuuteen on kiinnitetty erityistä huomiota. Lisäksi sairaaloiden päivystysvalmiuden uudelleenorganisointi on käynnissä. Lisätietoa tarvitaan vakavien ja kuolemaan johtavien vammojen esiintyvyydestä ja olosuhteista, ennusteesta sekä akuuttihoidon toteutumisesta, jotta terveydenhuollon resursseja voitaisiin kohdentaa tarkoituksenmukaisesti ja ennaltaehkäisyn tarpeet voitaisiin tunnistaa. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää vammakuolemien esiintyvyyttä ja olosuhteita Pohjois-Suomessa sekä suomalaisten lääkintä- ja lääkärihelikopteriyksikköjen (FinnHEMS) kohtaamien vammapotilaiden ennustetta. Erityisenä tavoitteena oli tutkia maaseutu- ja kaupunkialueiden eroja. Lisäksi tutkittiin National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)- vaikeusasteluokittelun kykyä ennustaa 30 päivän kuolleisuutta. Neljännen osatyön tavoitteena oli tutkia ensihoitajien suorittaman hengitystien varmistamisen käytäntöä Pohjois-Suomessa. Tutkimusaineisto koostui vuosina 2007‒2011 Pohjois-Suomessa tapahtuneista vammakuolemista, FinnHEMS:in yksiköiden kohtaamista vammapotilaista Pohjois-Suomessa vuosina 2012‒2013, Pohjois-Norjan pelastushelikopterin kohtaamista potilaista vuosina 1999‒2009 sekä ensihoitajille tehdystä kyselytutkimuksesta hengitystien hallintaan liittyen. Tutkimuksessa todettiin, että kuolemaan johtaneiden vammojen esiintyvyys on korkea Pohjois-Suomessa. Lisäksi havaittiin, että lähes puoleen sairaalan ulkopuolella tapahtuneisiin vammapotilaiden kuolintapauksiin liittyi alkoholi. Maaseudulla myös suurempi osa menehtyi sairaalan ulkopuolella. FinnHEMS:in yksiköiden kaupunkialueella kohtaamilla vammapotilailla, jotka selvisivät sairaalaan, havaittiin viitettä korkeampaan 30 päivän kuolleisuuteen verrattuna maaseudulla vammautuneihin. Ero johtuu todennäköisemmin siitä, että kaupunkialueella vammautuneet ehtivät sairaalaan kun taas maaseudulla vammapotilaat kuolevat jo ennen ensihoitopalvelun saapumista. NACA-vaikeusasteluokittelun todettiin ennustavan luotettavasti 30 päivän kuolleisuutta. Yksinkertaisuutensa vuoksi se soveltuu potilasmateriaalin vertailemiseen eri tukikohtien välillä. Ensihoitajan suorittama hengitystien varmistaminen havaittiin olevan harvinaista. Keskimääräisesti suoritteita tapahtui harvoin, ja taitojen ylläpitämisessä oli parantamisen varaa.

The practice of obtaining blood as part of the placement of a new peripheral venous access device (p-VAD) is a frequent practice in the emergency department (ED). Of the concerns related to this practice is the possibility of laboratory specimen rejection due to p-VAD catheter size, use of the wrong collection device, and the absence of a standardized collection process. The objective of this study, therefore, was to examine the effect of the use of evidence-based venipuncture and p-VAD blood collection protocols on the rejection rate of blood specimens drawn by staff in the adult areas of an urban academic medical center ED. A convenience sample of 28 ED nurses and 39 ED technicians (51.94% of all eligible ED employees) consented to using these evidence based protocols when they collected blood from adult ED patients. Blood specimen rejections rates were measured for four consecutive weeks prior to and at weeks 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, and 1-12 after the evidence-based blood collection practices training intervention. Laboratory analysis of all specimens was automated with rejection results provided in the form of computerized reports. There was a significant decrease in the 12-week rejection rates for two of the three ED adult care areas, with the overall ED adult area rejection rate significantly decreased from 3.19% to 2.38% (X2at Df1, p < .05). The most common reasons for rejection were hemolysis (65.39%) and clotting (10.68%) followed by specimen mis-labeling, tube missing, insufficient quantity for testing, incorrect packaging, specimen contamination or dilution, and label missing, Though the use of theses evidence based blood collection protocols significantly decreased the overall rejection rate, the high percent of rejections due to hemolysis may further be reduced by having all ED staff use these protocols, and by exploring other collection techniques in the literature that have been found to significantly decrease rejection rates.

The purpose of this current study is to examine the impact of non-pharmacologic pain interventions administered by trained Child Life professionals in an emergency department on pain perception in children. Results showed no significant decrease in children's pain report during the medical procedure compared to before the medical procedure. However, pain after the medical procedure is significantly less than pain during the medical procedure.

Die Tätigkeiten im Notarzt- und Rettungsdienst sind häufig mit persönlichen Gefährdungen verbunden. Im Raum steht aber auch immer die Problematik von Gefährdungssituationen, die durch den Notarzt "nur" als solche wahrgenommen, sozusagen "empfunden" werden. In dieser Arbeit wird v. a. vor dem Hintergrund der Erforderlichkeit und Zumutbarkeit die Frage prinzipiell diskutiert, ob und inwieweit ein Notarzt zum Handeln verpflichtet ist. Im Ergebnis ist objektiv-typisierend auf den Facharztstandard bzw. den Indikationskatalog für den Notarzteinsatz in Kombination mit arzt-/berufsrechtlichen Gesichtspunkten im engeren Sinne (z. B. Freiberuflichkeit) abzustellen. Es wird sich jedenfalls immer um eine Einzelfallbetrachtung und um eine individuelle, fallbezogene Entscheidung handeln. Bei seltenen, sehr unwahrscheinlichen Situationen mit relativer Ermangelung von objektiv-typisierbaren Gesichtspunkten werden die Anforderungen, aber auch die Chancen, an die "höchstpersönliche" Berufsausübung, an die Persönlichkeit des Arztes (v. a. in der Entscheidungsfindung) umso größer werden.

Approximately half of all emergency department (ED) visits are primary-care sensitive (PCS) – meaning that they could potentially be avoided with timely, effective primary care. Reducing undesirable types of healthcare utilization (including PCS ED use) requires the ability to define, measure, and predict such use in a population. In this retrospective, observational study, we quantified ED use in 2 privately insured populations and developed ED risk prediction models. One dataset, obtained from a Massachusetts managed-care network (MCN), included data from 2009-11. The second was the MarketScan database, with data from 2007-08. The MCN study included 64,623 individuals enrolled for at least 1 base-year month and 1 prediction-year month in Massachusetts whose primary care provider (PCP) participated in the MCN. The MarketScan study included 15,136,261 individuals enrolled for at least 1 base-year month and 1 prediction-year month in the 50 US states plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. We used medical claims to identify principal diagnosis codes for ED visits, and scored each according to the New York University Emergency Department algorithm. We defined primary-care sensitive (PCS) ED visits as those in 3 subcategories: nonemergent, emergent but primary-care treatable, and emergent but preventable/avoidable. We then: 1) defined and described the distributions of 3 ED outcomes: any ED use; number of ED visits; and a new outcome, based on the NYU algorithm, that we call PCS ED use; 2) built and validated predictive models for these outcomes using administrative claims data; 3) compared the performance of models predicting any ED use, number of ED visits, and PCS ED use; 4) enhanced these models by adding enrollee characteristics from electronic medical records, neighborhood characteristics, and payor/provider characteristics, and explored differences in performance between the original and enhanced models. In the MarketScan sample, 10.6% of enrollees had at least 1 ED visit, with about half of utilization scored as PCS. For the top risk group (those in the 99.5th percentile), the model’s sensitivity was 3.1%, specificity was 99.7%, and positive predictive value (PPV) was 49.7%. The model predicting PCS visits yielded sensitivity of 3.8%, specificity of 99.7%, and PPV of 40.5% for the top risk group. In the MCN sample, 14.6% (±0.1%) had at least 1 ED visit during the prediction period, with an overall rate of 18.8 (±0.2) visits per 100 persons and 7.6 (±0.1) PCS ED visits per 100 persons. Measuring PCS ED use with a threshold-based approach resulted in many fewer visits counted as PCS, discarding information unnecessarily. Out of 45 practices, 5 to 11 (11-24%) had observed values that were statistically significantly different from their expected values. Models predicting ED utilization using age, sex, race, morbidity, and prior use only (claims-based models) had lower R2 (ranging from 2.9% to 3.7%) and poorer predictive ability than the enhanced models that also included payor, PCP type and quality, problem list conditions, and covariates from the EMR, Census tract, and MCN provider data (enhanced model R2 ranged from 4.17% to 5.14%). In adjusted analyses, age, claims-based morbidity score, any ED visit in the base year, asthma, congestive heart failure, depression, tobacco use, and neighborhood poverty were strongly associated with increased risk for all 3 measures (all P<.001).

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No description available.

Det blir allt vanligare att föreslå att icke-transparant artificiell intelligens, s.k. black boxes, används inom akutmedicinen. I denna uppsats används etisk analys för att härleda sju riktlinjer för utveckling och användning av black boxes i akutmedicin. Analysen är grundad på sju variationer av ett tankeexperiment som involverar en läkare, en black box och en patient med bröstsmärta på en akutavdelning. Grundläggande begrepp, inklusive artificiell intelligens, black boxes, metoder för transparens, akutmedicin och etisk analys behandlas detaljerat. Tre viktiga områden av etisk vikt identifieras: samtycke; kultur, agentskap och privatliv; och skyldigheter. Dessa områden ger upphov till de sju variationerna. För varje variation urskiljs en viktig etisk fråga som identifieras och analyseras. En riktlinje formuleras och dess etiska rimlighet testas utifrån konsekventialistiska och deontologiska metoder. Tillämpningen av riktlinjerna på medicin i allmänhet, och angelägenheten av fortsatt etiska analys av black boxes och artificiell intelligens inom akutmedicin klargörs. / Artificially intelligent black boxes are increasingly being proposed for emergency medicine settings; this paper uses ethical analysis to develop seven practical guidelines for emergency medicine black box creation and use. The analysis is built around seven variations of a thought experiment involving a doctor, a black box, and a patient presenting chest pain in an emergency department. Foundational concepts, including artificial intelligence, black boxes, transparency methods, emergency medicine, and ethical analysis are expanded upon. Three major areas of ethical concern are identified, namely consent; culture, agency, and privacy; and fault. These areas give rise to the seven variations. For each, a key ethical question it illustrates is identified and analyzed. A practical guideline is then stated, and its ethical acceptability tested using consequentialist and deontological approaches. The applicability of the guidelines to medicine more generally, and the urgency of continued ethical analysis of black box artificial intelligence in emergency medicine, are clarified.