ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Non-emergency-trained providers in rural emergency departments (ED) often lack the skills required for emergency resuscitations and rely on air medical transport teams to provide the initial airway stabilization of these patients. In this study, we determined the prevalence with which endotracheal intubations are required of air medical personnel upon arrival to rural EDs including intubations that were first attempted by the local provider. METHODS: A retrospective database review was conducted of all air medical transfers from rural hospitals for a 28-month period. Those patients requiring an airway were categorized according to which provider initiated the intubation procedure. The prevalence of intubations performed by air medical and local providers was recorded as the percent of the total number of intubations. RESULTS: There were a total of 217 patients from 11 rural EDs requiring airway support. Air medical personnel were responsible for 85% of the intubations. Alternative airway support was necessary in 5% of the patients after unsuccessful intubation attempts. The failed intubations tended to be slightly older and female. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the vast majority of the intubations for patients requiring a helicopter evacuation from these rural settings are performed by the air medical personnel.
Subject(s)
Air Ambulances , Emergency Medical Services/statistics & numerical data , Emergency Service, Hospital , Hospitals, Rural , Intubation, Intratracheal/statistics & numerical data , Databases, Factual , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Transfer , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
A population is considered diverse if it contains individuals with a wide variety of demographic and cultural characteristics or attributes. However, it is often difficult to compare the relative diversity of two groups. It is even more difficult to specifically measure or quantify the diversity of any single group. In this paper a three step process for measuring and quantifying diversity in a human populations is described. The measurement methodologies illustrated in an example using this process are based upon fractionalization techniques and mathematical information theory.
