Skills among young and elderly laypersons during simulated dispatcher assisted CPR and after CPR training.

BACKGROUND: Dispatcher assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DA-CPR) increase the rate of bystander CPR. The aim of the study was to compare the performance of DA-CPR and attainable skills following CPR training between young and elderly laypersons. METHODS: Volunteer laypersons (young: 18-40 years; elderly: > 65 years) participated. Single rescuer CPR was performed in a simulated DA-CPR cardiac arrest scenario and after CPR training. Data were obtained from a manikin and from video recordings. The primary endpoint was chest compression depth. RESULTS: Overall, 56 young (median age: 26, years since last CPR training: 6) and 58 elderly (median age: 72, years since last CPR training: 26.5) participated. Young laypersons performed deeper (mean (SD): 56 (14) mm vs. 39 (19) mm, P < 0.001) and faster (median (25th-75th percentile): 107 (97-112) per min vs. 84 (74-107) per min, P < 0.001) chest compressions compared to elderly. Young laypersons had shorter time to first compression (mean (SD): 71 (11) seconds vs. 104 (38) seconds, P < 0.001) and less hands-off time (median (25th-75th percentile): 0 (0-1) seconds vs. 5 (2-10) seconds, P < 0.001) than elderly. After CPR training chest compressions were performed with a depth (mean (SD): 64 (8) mm vs. 50 (14) mm, P < 0.001) and rate (mean (SD): 111 (11) per min vs. 93 (18) per min, P < 0.001) for young and elderly laypersons respectively. CONCLUSION: Despite long CPR retention time for both groups, elderly laypersons had longer retention time, and performed inadequate DA-CPR compared to young laypersons. Following CPR training the attainable CPR level was of acceptable quality for both young and elderly laypersons.

Non-urgent Emergency Callers: Characteristics and Prognosis.

OBJECTIVE: In Denmark, calls to the Danish emergency number 1-1-2 concerning medical emergencies are received by an emergency medical communication center (EMCC). At the EMCC, health care professionals (nurses, paramedics, and physicians) decide the necessary response, depending on the level of emergency as indicated by the Danish Index for Emergency Care. The index states 37 main criteria (symptoms) and five levels of emergency, descending from A (life threatening) to E (not serious). An ambulance is not sent to emergency level-E patients (level-E patients), but they are given other kinds of help/advice. No prior studies focusing on Danish level-E patients exist, hence the sparse knowledge about them. This study aimed to characterize level-E patients in the Central Denmark Region and to investigate their progress in the health care system after the 1-1-2 call, regarding contacting 1-1-2 again, general practitioner and Emergency Department (ED) visits, hospital admission, and death. METHODS: This is a retrospective follow-up study of callers who contacted the EMCC of the Central Denmark Region and were assessed as level-E patients from August 2013 to July 2014. The study population was identified in the EMCC dispatch software, whose data were supplemented with health care data from three national registries. RESULTS: Of the 53,414 patients who called 1-1-2 over the study period, 4,962 level-E patients were included in the study. The median age was 47 years (IQR: 24.3-67.7), and 53.4% were men. The most common main criteria were extremity pain - minor wounds. Within 1 day after their 1-1-2 call, 42.1% had a subsequent contact with the health care system. Of those, 5.9% called 1-1-2 again, 24.3% contacted an ED, and 8.6% were admitted. The fatality rate was 0.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Level-E patients who contacted the EMCC of the Central Denmark Region were most frequently young adults. Almost 60% of level E-patients, who could be tracked, had no further contact with the health care system within a day after their 1-1-2 call. Of those who did, a quarter contacted an ED, indicating that level-E patients needed medical attention. The low fatality rates suggest limited undertriage, that is, level-E patients do not seem to need emergency medical service transportation. Further studies on undertriage among other things are needed.

Efficacy and safety of intravenous fentanyl administered by ambulance personnel.

BACKGROUND: Management of pain in the pre-hospital setting is often inadequate. In 2011, ambulance personnel were authorized to administer intravenous fentanyl in the Central Denmark Region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous fentanyl administered by ambulance personnel. METHODS: Pre-hospital medical charts from 2348 adults treated with intravenous fentanyl by ambulance personnel during a 6-month period were reviewed. The primary outcome was the change in pain intensity on a numeric rating scale (NRS) from before fentanyl treatment to hospital arrival. Secondary outcomes included the number of patients with reduction in pain intensity during transport (NRS ≥ 2), the number of patients with NRS > 3 at hospital arrival, and potential fentanyl-related side effects. RESULTS: Fentanyl reduced pain from before treatment (8, IQR 7-9) to hospital arrival (4, IQR 3-6) (NRS reduction: 3, IQR 2-5; P = 0.001), 79.3% of all patients had a reduction in > 2 on the NRS during transport, and 58.4% of patients experienced pain at hospital arrival (NRS > 3). Twenty-one patients (0.9%) had oxygen saturation < 90%. A decrease in Glasgow Coma Scale was seen in 31 patients (1.3%) and hypotension observed in 71 patients (3.0%). CONCLUSION: Intravenous fentanyl caused clinically meaningful pain reduction in most patients and was safe in the hands of ambulance personnel. Many patients had moderate to severe pain at hospital arrival. As the protocol allowed higher doses of fentanyl, feedback on effect and safety should be part of continuous education of ambulance personnel.

Wood smoke in a controlled exposure experiment with human volunteers.

Exposure to wood smoke in the general population is increasing and concurrently, also our awareness. This article describes a wood-smoke generating system for studying human exposure to wood smoke and symptoms related to this exposure. Twenty nonsmoking atopic human participants with normal lung function and normal bronchial reactivity were randomly exposed for 3 h at three different exposure conditions; clean filtered air (control exposure) and wood smoke with a characteristic particulate matter (PM) concentration of 200 µg/m³ (low) and 400 µg/m³ (high) under controlled environmental conditions. The range for PM2.5 load observed for single experiments was 165-303 µg/m³ for the low exposure and 205-662 µg/m³ for the high exposure, whereas particle loads during clean air exposure most often were below the detection limit (< 20 µg/m³). Health effects were evaluated in relation to rated changes in symptoms and environmental perception using a computerized questionnaire and a potentiometer. Subjective symptoms were generally weak, but when combining the effect of each of the symptoms into categorical symptom indices, significant effects were found for "environmental perception" (p = 0.0007), "irritative body perceptions" (p = 0.0127), "psychological/neurological effects" (p = 0.0075) and "weak inflammatory responses" (p = 0.0003). Furthermore, significant effects (p = 0.0192) on self-reported general mucosa irritation were found. In conclusion, exposure to wood smoke affected symptom rating and caused irritated mucosas in humans. The knowledge gained in this study on subjective-rated symptoms may be important for understanding human response to wood-smoke exposure.