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Background: Sepsis is a life-threatening medical condition that requires early recognition and timely management to improve patient outcomes and reduce mortality rates. Administering antibiotics in the prehospital setting can be effective to reduce the time to antibiotic therapy, which may be crucial for sepsis patients. However, the impact of prehospital antibiotics on mortality in sepsis patients remains uncertain, and the current evidence to support this practice in middle-income countries is particularly limited. Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective-prospective cohort study aimed at determining the impact of prehospital antibiotics on in-hospital mortality rates among adult patients with sepsis. The study included patients who received care from the advanced level of Emergency Medical Service between June 2020 and October 2022 and compared the mortality rates of patients who received prehospital antibiotics with those of their counterparts who did not. Results: In this study, 180 patients with a mean age of 71.6 ± 15.7 years were included, of whom 68.9% experienced respiratory infections. The results demonstrated that the prehospital antibiotic group had a significantly lower in-hospital mortality rate (32.2%) than the non-prehospital antibiotic group (47.8%; p=0.034). After adjusting for confounding factors, the odds ratio was 0.304 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.82; p=0.018), indicating a 69.6% lower incidence of in-hospital mortality in the prehospital antibiotic group. Furthermore, the prehospital antibiotic group received antibiotics significantly earlier (16.0 ± 7.4 minutes) than the non-prehospital group (50.9 ± 29.4 minutes; p<0.001). Conclusion: This study provides evidence to support the administration of antibiotics to sepsis patients in the prehospital setting, as this practice can reduce mortality rates. However, larger, multicenter studies are required to confirm these findings and to further investigate the potential benefits of prehospital antibiotics in improving patient outcomes.
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BACKGROUND: The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has been of interest worldwide. However, evidence from low-resource emergency medical service systems is limited. This study investigated the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the prehospital management and outcomes of OHCA in Thailand. METHODS: This multicentered, retrospective, observational study compared the management and outcomes of OHCA for 2 periods: pre-COVID-19 (January-September 2019) and during the outbreak (January-September 2020). Study data were obtained from the Thai OHCA Network Registry. The primary outcome was survival rate to hospital discharge. Data of other OHCA outcomes and prehospital care during the two periods were also compared. RESULTS: The study enrolled 691 patients: 341 (49.3%) in the pre-COVID-19 period and 350 (50.7%) in the COVID-19 period. There was a significant decrease in the survival rate to discharge during the COVID-19 outbreak (7.7% vs 2.2%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15-0.95). However, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of their rates of sustained return of spontaneous circulation (33.0% vs 31.3%; aOR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.68-1.49) or their survival to intensive care unit/ward admission (27.8% vs 19.8%; aOR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.49-1.15). The first-responder response interval was significantly longer during the COVID-19 outbreak (median [interquartile range] 5.3 [3.2-9.3] min vs 10 [6-14] min; P < 0.001). There were also significant decreases in prehospital intubation (66.7% vs 48.2%; P < 0.001) and prehospital drug administration (79.5% vs 70.6%; P = 0.024) during the COVID-19 outbreak. CONCLUSION: There was a significant decrease in the rate of survival to hospital discharge of patients with OHCA during the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand. Maintaining the first responder response quality and encouraging prehospital advanced airway insertion might improve the survival rate during the COVID-19 outbreak.
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OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore significant pre-hospital factors affecting the survivability of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) patients in countries with developing EMS systems. METHOD: A retrospective cohort study was conducted examining data from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020 from Utstein Registry databases in Thailand, collected through Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS). Data were collected from three centres, including regional, suburban-capital, and urban-capital hospitals. The primary endpoint of this study was 30-day survival or discharged alive after an OHCA event. The multivariable risk regression was done by modified Poisson regression with robust error variance to explore the association between 30-day survival and pre-hospital factors with potential confounders adjustments. FINDINGS: Of 1,240 OHCA cases transferred by Emergency Medical Services (EMS), 42 patients (3.4%) were discharged alive after 30 days, including 22 (8.6%), 8 (3.0%), and 12 (1.7%) from regional, suburban-capital, and urban-capital centres, respectively. The initial arrest rhythm was 89.7% unshockable, with no significant variations across the three centres. Overall, bystander Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was 40.4%. However, bystander CPR with Automated External Defibrillator (AED) application was 0.8%. Bystander CPR significantly increased 30-day survival probability (aRR 1.88, 95% CI 1.01 to 3.51; p 0.049). Additionally, reducing the EMS response time by one minute significantly increased OHCA survivability (aRR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.20; p 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Response time and bystander CPR are the factors that improve the 30-day survival outcomes of OHCA patients. In contrast, scene time, transport time, and pre-hospital advanced airway management didn't improve 30-day OHCA survival.
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BACKGROUND: Dispatch services (DS's) form an integral part of emergency medical service (EMS) systems. The role of a dispatcher has also evolved into a crucial link in patient care delivery, particularly in dispatcher assisted cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (DACPR) during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Yet, there has been a paucity of research into the emerging area of dispatch science in Asia. This paper compares the characteristics of DS's, and state of implementation of DACPR within the Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes (PAROS) network. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive survey addressing population characteristics, DS structures and levels of service, state of DACPR implementation (including protocols and quality improvement programs) among PAROS DS's. RESULTS: 9 DS's responded, representing a total of 23 dispatch centres from 9 countries that serve over 80 million people. Most PAROS DS's operate a tiered dispatch response, have implemented medical oversight, and tend to be staffed by dispatchers with a predominantly medical background. Almost all PAROS DS's have begun tracking key EMS indicators. 77.8% (n = 7) of PAROS DS's have introduced DACPR. Of the DS's that have rolled out DACPR, 71.4% (n = 5) provided instructions in over one language. All DS's that implemented DACPR and provided feedback to dispatchers offered feedback on missed OHCA recognition. The majority of DS's (83.3%; n = 5) that offered DACPR and provided feedback to dispatchers also implemented corrective feedback, while 66.7% (n = 4) offered positive feedback. Compression-only CPR was the standard instruction for PAROS DS's. OHCA recognition sensitivity varied widely in PAROS DS's, ranging from 32.6% (95% CI: 29.9-35.5%) to 79.2% (95% CI: 72.9-84.4%). Median time to first compression ranged from 120 s to 220 s. CONCLUSIONS: We found notable variations in characteristics and state of DACPR implementation between PAROS DS's. These findings will lay the groundwork for future DS and DACPR studies in the PAROS network.