Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health care for patients who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has been suboptimal. Objective: To describe the demographic, clinical, and logistical characteristics of patients who experienced OHCA during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Descriptive study. Participants: 136 males and 58 females, aged 8 days to 89 years old, who experienced OHCA and were subsequently sent to the emergency department of Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). Setting: Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao City, March 15 to December 31, 2020. Main outcome measures: Demographic, clinical, and logistical characteristics of patients. Main results: Of the 194 patients, 149 (76.80%) experienced OHCA at home. Among them, 42 (21.65%) received initial CPR at the scene, with 36 (85.71%) of these procedures performed by ambulance crews. Only one (0.52%) patient received automated extracorporeal defibrillation performed by a bystander. There were 147 (75.77%) patients who were transported by private vehicles. The average times for dispatch, response and turnaround of the emergency medical services (EMS) were 8 minutes, 19 minutes, and 56 minutes, respectively. Of the 194 patients, 176 (90.72%) were transported without ongoing resuscitation. Upon arrival at the emergency department, 184 (94.84%) patients had unknown arrest rhythm. Only one (0.52%) patient had a return of spontaneous circulation and was admitted to the ICU. All the other patients expired within 10 to 15 minutes upon arriving at the emergency department. Conclusion In this study, most OHCAs happened at home, with few receiving CPR at the scene, primarily from ambulance crews. The average EMS response time was 19 minutes. Most patients were transported from the scene without ongoing resuscitation, and had an unknown arrest rhythm upon arrival at the emergency department. All patients expired shortly after arriving at the emergency department.
Resuscitation ; Ambulances

No abstract available.
Air Ambulances* ; Emergencies*

No abstract available.
Ambulances* ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation*

No abstract available.
Ambulances* ; Emergencies* ; Gangwon-do*

OBJECTIVE: Ambulance personnel who witness trauma experienced by patients have been reported to experience positive changes, known as vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG). We examined VPTG and its relationship with social support and resilience among ambulance personnel. METHODS: The sample (n=227) was recruited from six emergency centers in China. The measures included the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) and the bootstrapping procedure were used to examine indirect effects. RESULTS: The participants' mean score for VPTG was 68.96 (SD=15.51). Social support had significant direct effects on resilience (β=0.51, p < 0.001) and VPTG (β=0.25, p=0.001), and resilience (β=0.58, p < 0.001) had a significant direct effect on VPTG. Furthermore, social support had a significant indirect effect (0.51×0.58=0.30, p < 0.001) on VPTG through resilience. CONCLUSION: Although the nature of the work of ambulance personnel is not expected to change, the negative effects of the trauma they encounter can be reduced by providing them with more support resources and interventions to foster their resilience, which in turn, promote VPTG.
Ambulances* ; China* ; Emergencies ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: The term "Open API" has been recently in use by recent trends in social media and web 2.0. It is currently a heavily sought after solution to interconnect Web sites in a more fluid user-friendly manner. We could have many benefits easily development and high efficiency. In this paper, Real-time ambulance location monitoring system including Integrated Maps was designed by using Maps Open API based on Web 2.0. METHODS: Integrated Maps were used by using Google Maps Open API and Naver Maps Open API respectively. GPS Web Browser was implemented to present integrated Maps on the designed system continuously. The development environments of the designed systems were C# and ASP.NET Platform. RESULTS: The designed systems contained three parts composed to Integrated Maps, Ambulance System, and Center Monitoring System respectively. Integrated Maps could offer Satellite, Map and Hybrid typed maps at Real-time Ambulance Location Monitoring System. CONCLUSION: Real-time Ambulance Location Monitoring System could be developed with low cost using a Open API at available emergency situations. We expect to more using Open API in medical systems.
Ambulances ; Chimera ; Emergencies ; Social Media

STUDY OBJECTIVE: determine the level of medical care required for mass gatherings and describe the types of medical problems encountered in a religious mass gathered ceremony. DESIGN: Standard charts and a four-tiered triage system(minor, moderate, urgent, and emergent) were developed before the event. The triage system was applied to each chart retrospectively by a single emergency physician. SETTING: Medical staff(10 physicians,13 nurses,1 pharmacist, and 54 first-aid attendants) were based in 8 advanced life support (ALS) clinics. INTERVENTIONS: First-aid attendants referred patients to the clinics, where nurses conducted initial assessments and referred patients to physicians at the venue. Three ambulances were stationed at the venues. RESULT: 22 trauma patients were developed and 183 medical complaints were encountered. Only 7 urgent medical problems were encountered.
Ambulances ; Emergencies* ; Humans ; Pharmacists ; Retrospective Studies ; Triage

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the experiences of patients who used ambulance services and analyze the factors which influenced their willingness to use them again. METHODS: The survey was carried out at 17 emergency medical centers for 2 days, and 225 patients and protectors answered the questions. The questionnaire was developed through literature review and consultation with professions. Survey questions addressed the following: dispatchers' degree of careful listening, dispatchers' ability to easily understand location information, advice from dispatchers, waiting time for EMTs (emergency medical technicians), EMTs' degree of careful listening, EMTs' explanations, EMTs' communication of information to hospital staffs and patient comfort in transit. RESULTS: The level of patient experiences was relatively poorer than in England. The major factors which influenced patients' willingness to return were advice from dispatchers, EMTs' communication of information to hospital staffs and patient comfort in transit. Demographic and socio-economic factors had no bearing on willingness to return. CONCLUSION: The evaluation of patients' experiences is a useful method for gauging the quality of ambulance services and is not influenced by patients' demographic and socio-economic factors. Moreover, specifically focused questions about patients' experiences can greatly contribute to improving the quality of ambulance services.
Ambulances* ; Emergencies ; England ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Current digital radiography systems are rapidly growing in clinical applications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of a mobile digital radiographic system. The performance of the mobile DR system was evaluated by measuring the modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). Measurements were made on a LISTEM Mobix-1000 generator and a Teleoptic PRA Alpha-R4000 detector. Imaging characteristics were measured for these two systems using the IEC-61267 defined RQA5 (kVp: 74, additional filtration: 21 mmAl) radiographic condition. The MTF at 10% was measured as 2.4 cycles/mm and the DQE(0) values for radiation exposure 0.19, 0.5, and 1.3 mR were measured as 54%, 55%, and 76%, respectively. The NPS curves gradually decreased at high spatial frequencies. This high DQE at low frequencies, may be useful for low frequency information. The results suggested that mobile DR system could be integrated with emergency ambulance system in teleradiologic imaging applications.
Ambulances ; Emergencies ; Filtration ; Noise ; Radiographic Image Enhancement

BACKGROUND: Recent advances have been made in the treatment of acute stroke, but the effectiveness of the new therapies is highly time-dependent. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the time from symptom onset to hospital arrival and the total arrival delay time for patients with acute stroke. METHODS: A prospective registry of patients presenting to the ED with signs or symptoms of acute stroke was established at Ewha Womans University Mokdong and Dongdaeumn hospitals from March to December 1999. We analyzed the prehospital delay time(reaction interval and total arrival delay) and factors associated with delayed arrival at the hospital. RESULTS: The study included 256 patients(49% were women) with a mean age of 62+/-13 years. 50.9% of the patients arrived within 3 hours, and 94.9% patients arrived within 24 hours after onset of symptoms of acute stroke. The total arrival delay time was 180 minutes(median time), and the reaction interval was 60 minutes(median time). Transportation by 119 or 129 ambulances was linked to shorter delay(47 minutes). Age, mental status, and degree of disability were statistically significant factors associated with delayed arrival at the hospital. CONCLUSION: Age, mental status, and degree of disability were significant factors associated with delayed arrival at the hospital. For effective treatment of acute stroke patients, increased public awareness to use an ambulance with direct transport to the acute-care hospital required.
Ambulances ; Female ; Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke* ; Transportation