Major adverse cardiac event rates in moderate-risk patients: Does prior coronary disease matter?

BACKGROUND: Despite negative troponins and nonischemic electrocardiograms (ECGs), patients at moderate risk for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are frequently admitted. The objective of this study was to describe the major adverse cardiac event (MACE) rate in moderate-risk patients and how it differs based on history of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: A secondary analysis of the HEART Pathway implementation study was conducted. This prospective interrupted time-series study accrued adults with possible ACS from three sites (November 2013-January 2016). This analysis excluded low-risk patients determined by emergency providers' HEART Pathway assessments. Non-low-risk patients were further classified as high risk, based on elevated troponin measures or ischemic ECG findings or as moderate risk, based on HEAR score ≥ 4, negative troponin measures, and a nonischemic ECG. Moderate-risk patients were then stratified by the presence or absence of prior CAD (MI, revascularization, or ≥70% coronary stenosis). MACE (death, myocardial infarction, or revascularization) at 30 days was determined from health records, insurance claims, and death index data. MACE rates were compared among groups using a chi-square test and likelihood ratios (LRs) were calculated. RESULTS: Among 4,550 patients with HEART Pathway assessments, 24.8% (1,130/4,550) were high risk and 37.7% (1715/4550) were moderate risk. MACE at 30 days occurred in 3.1% (53/1,715; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.3% to 4.0%) of moderate-risk patients. Among moderate-risk patients, MACE occurred in 7.1% (36/508, 95% CI = 5.1% to 9.8%) of patients with known CAD versus 1.4% (17/1,207, 95% CI = 0.9% to 2.3%) in patients without known prior CAD (p < 0.0001). The negative LR for 30-day MACE among moderate-risk patients without prior CAD was 0.08 (95% CI = 0.05 to 0.12). CONCLUSION: MACE rates at 30 days were low among moderate-risk patients but were significantly higher among those with prior CAD.

Prehospital time for patients with acute cardiac complaints: A rural health disparity.

OBJECTIVE: Delays in care for patients with acute cardiac complaints are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to quantify rural and urban differences in prehospital time intervals for patients with cardiac complaints. METHODS: The ESO Data Collaborative dataset consisting of records from 1332 EMS agencies was queried for 9-1-1 encounters with acute cardiac problems among adults (age ≥ 18) from 1/1/2013-6/1/2018. Location was classified as rural or urban using the 2010 United States Census. The primary outcome was total prehospital time. Generalized estimating equations evaluated differences in the average times between rural and urban encounters while controlling for age, sex, race, transport mode, loaded mileage, and patient stability. RESULTS: Among 428,054 encounters, the median age was 62 (IQR 50-75) years with 50.7% female, 75.3% white, and 10.3% rural. The median total prehospital, response, scene, and transport times were 37.0 (IQR 29.0-48.0), 6.0 (IQR 4.0-9.0), 16.0 (IQR 12.0-21.0), and 13.0 (IQR 8.0-21.0) minutes. Rural patients had an average total prehospital time that was 16.76 min (95%CI 15.15-18.38) longer than urban patients. After adjusting for covariates, average total time was 5.08 (95%CI 4.37-5.78) minutes longer for rural patients. Average response and transport time were 4.36 (95%CI 3.83-4.89) and 0.62 (95%CI 0.33-0.90) minutes longer for rural patients. Scene time was similar in rural and urban patients (0.09 min, 95%CI -0.15-0.33). CONCLUSION: Rural patients with acute cardiac complaints experienced longer prehospital time than urban patients, even after accounting for other key variables, such as loaded mileage.

Prehospital Cross-Sectional Study of Drowning Patients Across the United States.

INTRODUCTION: Every year drowning is responsible for 7% of injury-related deaths worldwide, making it the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death. However, in the United States, little is known regarding the prehospital presentation and management of these patients. The purpose of this study was to describe the drowning population in the United States, with a focus on prehospital time intervals, transport, and cardiac arrest frequency. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed querying records from emergency medical services encounters across the United States over 30 mo (January 2016 to July 2018) using the ESO (Austin, TX) national emergency medical services data registry. Patients with a dispatch or chief complaint of drowning were included. Descriptive statistics, binomial proportion tests, and general linear and logistic regression models were used. RESULTS: There were 1859 encounters that met the study criteria. Median age was 18 y (n=1855, LQ-UQ 4-46). Pediatric patients accounted for 50% (n=919, 95% CI 47-52). Cardiac arrest occurred in 29% (n=537, 95% CI 27-31), and return of spontaneous circulation occurred in 37% (n=186, 95% CI 32-41). Times were 8±5, 19±17, and 15±10 min (mean±SD) for arrival, on-scene, and transport times, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This national prehospital drowning study demonstrated that despite an 18% fatality rate in drowning encounters, patients were more likely to have return of spontaneous circulation when compared to the overall prehospital national average, with rates higher in pediatric patients. Future studies with outcomes data should focus on identifying factors that improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation success rates.

Barriers to Physical Activity Among Emergency Medical Services Professionals.

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals demonstrate low adherence to physical activity guidelines and experience a high prevalence of obesity and incidence of injury. The authors investigate the barriers to participating in physical activity among EMS professionals. METHODS: The EMS professionals employed by 15 North Carolina EMS agencies were surveyed with validated items. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval) of not meeting physical activity guidelines for each barrier to being active, controlling for age, sex, body mass index category, race/ethnicity, certification and education level, and work hours. RESULTS: A total of 1367 EMS professionals were invited to participate, and 359 complete responses were recorded. Half of the respondents (48.2%) met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention physical activity guidelines. According to standard body mass index categories, 55.9% were obese. There were increased odds of not meeting physical activity guidelines for the following barriers: lack of energy (5.32, 3.12-9.09), lack of willpower (4.31, 2.57-7.22), lack of time (3.55, 2.12-5.94), social influence (3.02, 1.66-5.48), and lack of resources (2.14, 1.12-4.11). The barriers of fear of injury and lack of skill were not associated with meeting physical activity guidelines. CONCLUSION: Half of EMS professionals did not meet physical activity guidelines, and the majority were obese. Significant associations exist between several modifiable barriers and not meeting physical activity guidelines.

One Notable Complication of Nasopharyngeal Airway: A Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: The nasopharyngeal airway (NPA) is used by emergency providers and first responders to assist with oxygenation in obtunded, critically ill patients. There are few recorded NPA complications. CASE REPORT: We describe a unique case in which a patient went multiple days with recurrent symptoms of upper airway obstruction secondary to retained NPA. DISCUSSION: Nasopharyngeal airways may be uniquely prone to being displaced and retained due to their use in emergent situations, their small size, and time of insertion in the field prior to emergency department (ED) contact where handoff is not often standardized. CONCLUSION: The use of large-flanged NPAs might reduce incidences of displacement into the nasal cavity. This case highlights the need for improved handoff communication between emergency medical services and ED staff, especially to account for all inserted devices to prevent foreign body retention.

Prehospital Trauma Scene and Transport Times for Pediatric and Adult Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Increased out-of-hospital time is associated with worse outcomes in trauma. Sparse literature exists comparing prehospital scene and transport time management intervals between adult and pediatric trauma patients. National Emergency Medical Services guidelines recommend that trauma scene time be less than 10 minutes. The objective of this study was to examine prehospital time intervals in adult and pediatric trauma patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of blunt and penetrating trauma patients in a five-county region in North Carolina using prehospital records. We included patients who were transported emergency traffic directly from the scene by ground ambulance to a Level I or Level II trauma center between 2013-2018. We defined pediatric patients as those less than 16 years old. Urbanicity was controlled for using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's Ambulance Fee Schedule. We performed descriptive statistics and linear mixed-effects regression modeling. RESULTS: A total of 2179 records met the study criteria, of which 2077 were used in the analysis. Mean scene time was 14.2 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.9-14.5) and 35.3% (n = 733) of encounters had a scene time of 10 minutes or less. Mean transport time was 17.5 minutes (95% CI, 17.0-17.9). Linear mixed-effects regression revealed that scene times were shorter for pediatric patients (p<0.0001), males (p=0.0016), penetrating injury (p<0.0001), and patients with blunt trauma in rural settings (p=0.005), and that transport times were shorter for males (p = 0.02), non-White patients (p<0.0001), and patients in urban areas (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: This study population largely missed the 10-minute scene time goal. Demographic and patient factors were associated with scene and transport times. Shorter scene times occurred with pediatric patients, males, and among those with penetrating trauma. Additionally, suffering blunt trauma while in a rural environment was associated with shorter scene time. Males, non-White patients, and patients in urban environments tended to have shorter transport times. Future studies with outcomes data are needed to identify factors that prolong out-of-hospital time and to assess the impact of out-of-hospital time on patient outcomes.

One-Year Mortality and Associated Factors in Patients Receiving Out-of-Hospital Naloxone for Presumed Opioid Overdose.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Out-of-hospital naloxone has been championed as a lifesaving solution during the opioid epidemic. However, the long-term outcomes of out-of-hospital naloxone recipients are unknown. The objectives of this study are to describe the 1-year mortality of presumed opioid overdose victims identified by receiving out-of-hospital naloxone and to determine which patient factors are associated with subsequent mortality. METHODS: This was a regional retrospective cohort study of out-of-hospital records from 7 North Carolina counties from January 1, 2015 to February 28, 2017. Patients who received out-of-hospital naloxone were included. Out-of-hospital providers subjectively assessed patients for improvement after administering naloxone. Naloxone recipients were cross-referenced with the North Carolina death index to examine mortality at days 0, 1, 30, and 365. Naloxone recipient mortality was compared with the age-adjusted, at-large population's mortality rate in 2017. Generalized estimating equations and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess for mortality-associated factors. RESULTS: Of 3,085 out-of-hospital naloxone encounters, 72.7% of patients (n=2,244) improved, whereas 27.3% (n=841) had no improvement with naloxone. At day 365, 12.0% (n=269) of the improved subgroup, 22.6% (n=190) of the no improvement subgroup, and 14.9% (n=459) of the whole population were dead. Naloxone recipients who improved were 13.2 times (95% confidence interval 13.0 to 13.3) more likely to be dead at 1 year than a member of the general populace after age adjusting of the at-large population to match this study population. Older age and being black were associated with 1-year mortality, whereas sex and multiple overdoses were not. CONCLUSION: Opioid overdose identified by receiving out-of-hospital naloxone with clinical improvement carries a 13-fold increase in mortality compared to the general population. This suggests that this is a high-risk population that deserves attention from public health officials, policymakers, and health care providers in regard to the development of long-term solutions.

Medical Provider Ballistic Protection at Active Shooter Events.

There is some controversy about whether ballistic protective equipment (body armor) is required for medical responders who may be called to respond to active shooter mass casualty incidents. In this article, we describe the ongoing evolution of recommendations to optimize medical care to injured victims at such an incident. We propose that body armor is not mandatory for medical responders participating in a rapid-response capacity, in keeping with the Hartford Consensus and Arlington Rescue Task Force models. However, we acknowledge that the development and implementation of these programs may benefit from the availability of such equipment as one component of risk mitigation. Many police agencies regularly retire body armor on a defined time schedule before the end of its effective service life. Coordination with law enforcement may allow such retired body armor to be available to other public safety agencies, such as fire and emergency medical services, providing some degree of ballistic protection to medical responders at little or no cost during the rare mass casualty incident. To provide visual demonstration of this concept, we tested three "retired" ballistic vests with ages ranging from 6 to 27 years. The vests were shot at close range using police-issue 9mm, .40 caliber, .45 caliber, and 12-gauge shotgun rounds. Photographs demonstrate that the vests maintained their ballistic protection and defeated all of these rounds.

Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Medical Director Course: core content developed with Delphi technique.

The National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians' (NAEMSP) position on the role of medical oversight within an operational Emergency Medical Service (EMS) program highlights the importance of integrating specially trained medical directors within the structure of these programs. In response, the NAEMSP Wilderness EMS (WEMS) Committee recognized the need for the development of an educational curriculum to provide physicians with the unique skills needed to be a medical director for a WEMS agency. This paper describes the Delphi process used to create the subject matter core content, as well as the actual core content developed. This core content was the foundation for the development of a specific WEMS medical director curriculum, the Wilderness EMS Medical Director Course.

Injuries in mountain bike racing: frequency of injuries in endurance versus cross country mountain bike races.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of injuries requiring medical attention among mountain bike racers at endurance races (6 hours or greater in duration) versus traditional cross country races (less than 6 hours duration) and to determine the medical support available at races. METHODS: A survey was developed to determine participants' experience level, previous injuries, and demographic information. An additional survey was completed by injured riders to determine injuries and treatment received. The number of medical providers, their level of training, and the supplies available was determined. RESULTS: The endurance riders had more years of mountain biking experience, averaged more hours of riding per week, and had fewer injuries requiring medical attention in the past year than the riders in the races. Of the cross-country riders, 7.2% were injured during the race, and 4.7% of endurance racers were injured. There was no increased risk of being injured in a race over an endurance race (odds ratio 1.6, 95% CI [0.50, 2.92]). Lacerations and abrasions were the most common injuries in both events. Head injuries, eye injuries, and blisters were only reported in the endurance events. Endurance events were more likely to have medical assistance available. CONCLUSION: There was a greater percentage of riders reporting injuries in the cross-country races. It is possible that many of the endurance racers did not report injuries, continuing to ride or taking care of their own injuries quickly. Both events tended to have similar types of injuries and, therefore, both events most likely need similar medical support.

Advanced wilderness life support education using high-technology patient simulation.

OBJECTIVE: (1) To determine if, after using the simulation mannequin SimMan in a wilderness "megacode" exercise, participants believe high-tech simulators are an effective tool for learning wilderness medicine skills. (2) To determine if participants believe high-tech simulation mannequins should be used with more or less frequency in future wilderness medicine exercises. METHODS: After completing a basic training session outlining the capabilities of SimMan and completing a wilderness megacode (defined as a series of progressive conditions that accumulate over time) using SimMan, participants were surveyed to ascertain whether they perceived SimMan to be an effective teaching tool for wilderness medical skills and to determine if they would like SimMan to be used with greater frequency at future wilderness medicine courses. The data were compiled and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: Participants found the wilderness SimMan experience to be an effective tool with an average score of 3.15 on a scale where 4 is most effective and 1 is least effective. Participants also desired to see high-tech simulation more frequently in wilderness courses with a score of 3, on a scale where 4 is more frequently and 1 is less frequently. There was little difference in responses based on previous experience with simulation. CONCLUSIONS: High-tech simulation is an underused tool for wilderness medicine education. Currently, several barriers exist to its implementation in wilderness medicine. Participants in wilderness courses feel it is an effective tool and would like to see it used more frequently.

A skin abscess model for teaching incision and drainage procedures.

BACKGROUND: Skin and soft tissue infections are increasingly prevalent clinical problems, and it is important for health care practitioners to be well trained in how to treat skin abscesses. A realistic model of abscess incision and drainage will allow trainees to learn and practice this basic physician procedure. METHODS: We developed a realistic model of skin abscess formation to demonstrate the technique of incision and drainage for educational purposes. The creation of this model is described in detail in this report. RESULTS: This model has been successfully used to develop and disseminate a multimedia video production for teaching this medical procedure. Clinical faculty and resident physicians find this model to be a realistic method for demonstrating abscess incision and drainage. CONCLUSION: This manuscript provides a detailed description of our model of abscess incision and drainage for medical education. Clinical educators can incorporate this model into skills labs or demonstrations for teaching this basic procedure.