Lights, Sirens, and Load: Anticipatory emergency medical treatment planning causes cognitive load during emergency response driving among paramedicine students.

Paramedics face various unconventional and secondary task demands while driving ambulances, leading to significant cognitive load, especially during lights-and-sirens responses. Previous research suggests that high cognitive load negatively affects driving performance, increasing the risk of accidents, particularly for inexperienced drivers. The current study investigated the impact of anticipatory treatment planning on cognitive load during emergency driving, as assessed through the use of a driving simulator. We recruited 28 non-paramedic participants to complete a simulated baseline drive with no task and a cognitive load manipulation using the 1-back task. We also recruited 18 paramedicine students who completed a drive while considering two cases they were travelling to: cardiac arrest and infant seizure, representing varying difficulty in required treatment. The results indicated that both cases imposed considerable cognitive load, as indicated by NASA Task Load Index responses, comparable to the 1-back task and significantly higher than driving with no load. These findings suggest that contemplating cases and treatment plans may impact the safety of novice paramedics driving ambulances for emergency response. Further research should explore the influence of experience and the presence of a second individual in the vehicle to generalise to broader emergency response driving contexts.

Preparing for hazardous substances accidents : A rural fire departments perspective

The crapaud Fire Department is a group of thirty volunteers who serve a small community approximately 35 kilometers from Charlottetown, Frince Edward Island. The coverage area is approximately 200 square kilometres with 500 homes and 1500 residents. As a fire department, in the area of hazardous substances accidents, we are concerned with two areas: 1) Our coverage area includes seventeen kilometres of Trans / Canada Highway. This highway is a conduit for almost 75 porcent on the vehicle traffic which enters Charlottetown from off/Island. As a result, truck traffic carrying dangerous goods has a potential for becoming involved in a motor vehicle accident in our territory. 2) Also is our area area a large number of farms which seasonally store a significant amount of pesticides (ie herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides). Thousands of kilograms of actives ingredient are transported into, stored and used each year in our area. As a result of these concerns and others, our department prepares for potential hazardous substances accidents in several ways: A) Equipping the department with trucks, protective clothing and materials to combat such an accident. B) Training our volunteers in various aspects of hazardous substances accident. C) Working with other groups in Emergency Planning to better prepare for and handle such an accident (AU)