PURPOSE: As an emergency medical system provider, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quality for first responder is an important determinant of cardiac arrest outcome. However, feedback on their CPR performance is often lacking. In this simulation study, we analyzed their CPR variables after CPR training based on high-quality CPR requirements highlighted by the 2010 American Heart Association updated guidelines. Furthermore, we aimed to compare the CPR quality between first responders and emergency medical technicians. METHODS: Firefighters employed at Seoul metropolitan fire and disaster headquarters in 2011 and 2012 were included in the study. The data were collected from a PC Skill reporting System(R) (Laerdal, Norway) 5 hours after CPR training. Outcomes included compression variables (depth, rate, hand position, full release, delivered per minute, duty cycle), ventilation variables (volume, flow rate) and hands-off time variables (hands-off fraction, time for airway and breathing, automated external defibrillator (AED)). RESULTS: Sixty-one members to the emergency medical technician group and 66 members to the first responder group were recruited and were tested after CPR training. Results of the first responder group were as follows: for average compression variables, depth 57.6 mm, rate 108.3 numbers/min, correct hand position 90.0%, full release 100.0%, and duty cycle 40.8%. For average ventilation variables, volume 526.2 ml and flow rate 316.8 ml/sec. These values were same for both groups and showed no statistical significance. The number of compressions performed per minute was better in the emergency medical technician group (74.4 versus 70.6, p<0.002), as was total hands-off time (65.5 sec versus 73.2 sec, p<0.000) and hand-off fraction (32.0% versus 35.2%, p<0.000). Time for operating AED was found to be same for both groups but time for airway and breathing management was shorter in the emergency medical technician group (41.0 sec versus 48.0 sec, p<0.000). CONCLUSION: The first responder group showed that through short-term CPR training, overall measured quality of CPR was in compliance with international consensus guidelines. But total hands-off time was longer in the first responder group and the time spent for airway and breathing management rather than operating AED was significantly different between the two groups. Appropriate training programs for first responder's airway and breathing skills are required to minimize interruption time.
American Heart Association ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Compliance ; Consensus ; Defibrillators ; Disasters ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Emergency Responders ; Firefighters ; Fires ; Hand ; Heart Arrest ; Humans ; Quality Assurance, Health Care ; Respiration ; Ventilation

OBJECTIVE: The increasing number of people living in high-rise apartments may result in a delayed response from emergency medical technicians called out for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, making the role of apartment managers as the first responders extremely important. This study investigated whether automated external defibrillator (AED) placement influences the willingness of apartment managers to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an AED. METHODS: A cross-sectional target population-based survey was conducted in Daegu, July 2016. Questionnaires were sent to apartment managers working in apartments with more than 500 households. The general characteristics of the respondents, status of CPR education, and knowledge about and willingness to perform CPR and use an AED were investigated. RESULTS: Of the 1,445 respondents, 758 (52.5%) worked in apartments with AEDs, of which 77.8% and 70.8% were willing to perform CPR and use an AED, respectively, compared with 68.1% and 60.0% of respondents who worked in apartments without AEDs. After adjusting for potential confounders, AED placement was associated with the willingness to perform CPR (odds ratio [OR], 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.71) and use an AED (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.10–1.75). Prior CPR training and accurate knowledge of CPR skills were also associated with the willingness to perform CPR and use an AED. CONCLUSION: Placing AEDs in high-rise apartment buildings and providing refresher CPR education for maintaining CPR skills will be necessary to support apartment managers in their role as first responders.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation* ; Daegu ; Defibrillators* ; Education ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Emergency Responders ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo investigate psychological stress and influence factors on the mine emergency rescue personnel.

METHOD564 mine emergency rescue personnel from a rescue group were select as subjects, and 60 designers from a steel design institute were as controls. Self-made questionnaire and general job stress questionnaire were used to investigate the basic information, rescue history, psychosomatic symptoms, depression symptoms, daily job stress and negative emotions of emergency rescue personnel. SPSS17.0 software was used to analysis the psychological stress on the mine rescue personnel and its influence factors.

RESULTSThe detection rate (41.94%) of depression symptoms in rescue team was higher than that of controls (24.90%). The score of daily job stress was higher than that of logistical support. The older age group with higher negative emotional and daily job stress than the younger. The highest negative emotion was in age group of more than 40 years old. The highest score of daily job stress was in ≤30 years old. The score of depression and psychosomatic symptoms were higher than those of the college and the above. The scores of depression in group of duration of rescue <10 years was higher than that of duration≥10 years. The score of daily job stress is the lowest in rescue for 1 to 2 times per year and the highest in group of simulation training once a week. The score of daily job stress and depressive symptoms were getting higher with the extension of combat duty time. Age, hours of combat duty, training times a week, education and life events were the main affecting fectors on mental health of mine rescuers.

CONCLUSIONSMine rescuers have more psychological stress than generic population. The psychological stress of the mine crew is related to age, education, life events, training and combat readiness duty time.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Disasters ; Emergency Responders ; psychology ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Mining ; Rescue Work ; Stress, Psychological ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the psychological quality and its influencing factors of mine rescue staff.

METHODSA total of 310 on front line rescue staff from the mines in Tangshan were sampled by random cluster sampling method.Our own designed measurement tools for psychological quality, including Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ), attention test scale, willpower test scale and reactive agility test were used to investigate the psychological quality of mine rescue staff. All tests were conducted in quiet state.Other information including age, length of service for rescue, sex, education, smoking and drinking, and so on were collected at the same time. The mood and influencing factors on psychological quality of the rescue staff were also analyzed.

RESULTSThe personality traits of mine rescue staff are close to the national norm.0.6% (2/310) staff showed weak willpower.20.7% (64/310) staff had unstable mood. The E and N factor scores in 20-29 years old group (12.7 ± 4.3 and 12.1 ± 5.1) were higher than 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 years old groups (E factor scores:11.4 ± 3.9, 10.6 ± 3.7 and 10.7 ± 3.9; N factor scores:11.0 ± 5.1, 9.4 ± 4.9 and 6.3 ± 3.4, respectively) (FE = 4.28, FN = 11.35, all P < 0.01) . The L factor score in 40-49 and 50-58 years old groups (13.0 ± 4.2 and 14.8 ± 3.6) were higher than 20-29 and 30-39 years old groups (11.5 ± 3.8 and 12.2 ± 3.8) (F = 6.08, P < 0.01) . Multivariate analysis found that the psychological quality of mine rescue staff was mainly influenced by the length of service (β'E factor = -0.12, β'willpower = -0.12), the amount of participating rescue (β'P factor = 0.12, β'N factor = -0.14), alerting duty (β'L factor = 0.16, β 'error number of target tracking = -0.161) , daily training (β'attention = 0.22,β'total number of aimed at the test = -0.18) and life events (β'N factor = -0.14,β'L factor = 0.13,β'correct number of target tracking = -0.18).

CONCLUSIONThe mine rescue staff had high level psychological quality, length of service. the amount of participating rescue, and life events in the year effect the psychological quality of mine rescue staff.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emergency Responders ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mining ; Quality of Life ; Rescue Work ; Stress, Psychological ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: In the emergency medical field, a small error of time can make a huge difference because many difficult decisions depend on time. The purpose of this study was to confirm errors on the timepieces used by the medical system and to emphasize the importance of accurate time. METHODS: The timepieces of physicians, nurses, firefighters, paramedics, emergency department wall clocks, order communication system (OCS) computers, defibrillators, ECG machines, patient monitoring devices were investigated in 5 emergency medical centers. The time in OCS main server and 1339 emergency medical information center were checked by phone. The time on each timepieces was compared with the time of coordinated universal time korea (UTCK). The types of timepieces were confirmed and how often they set the time. RESULTS: There were 203 timepieces in 236 subjects. The timepieces had a mean error of 12 minutes 14 seconds. The errors were smaller in timepieces worn by the personnels compared to time on various devices used in the emergency department. The maximum error, 16 hours 20 minutes 31 seconds was found on patient monitoring devices. CONCLUSION: The timepieces used in the emergency medical care are often inaccurate. This can create medical or medicolegal problems. We should recognize the importance of maintaining accurate time and put an effort in reducing the errors of our timepieces.
Defibrillators ; Electrocardiography ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Firefighters ; Humans ; Information Centers ; Korea ; Monitoring, Physiologic

We report on the case of a 66-year-old male patient who suffered a cardiac arrest in his home. At the scene, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was performed by his family. The 119 firefighter emergency medical technician arrived and subsequently performed CPR. After being transported to my hospital, he was successfully resuscitated. Through physical examination, his abdomen was found to be expanded and tympanic. A simple X-ray showed free air in his abdomen. After bystander CPR, we diagnosed pneumoperitoneum. Due to his hemodynamic stability and lack of peritoneal signs, a non-operative management was administered successfully. Non-operative management can be an alternative in selected pneumoperitoneum patients. We report on a case of non-operative management of a pneumoperitoneum after bystander CPR with a review of the literature.
Abdomen ; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Emergency Medical Technicians ; Firefighters ; Heart Arrest ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Male ; Physical Examination ; Pneumoperitoneum

PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to identify the effects of self-esteem and problem focused coping on post-traumatic growth among police officers. METHODS: The data were collected from the 137 police officers in ten police offices of G city in July 2014. The collected data were analyzed for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and hierarchical regression using the SPSS/WIN 18.0 program. RESULTS: Post-traumatic growth was positively correlated with self-esteem and problem focused coping. Self-esteem and problem focused coping had a significant effects on post-traumatic growth. The explained variance for post-traumatic growth was 19.0%. CONCLUSION: To improve post-traumatic growth of police officers, strategies to increase self-esteem and problem focused coping are needed.
Humans ; Police*

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to characterize the difficulty index of the items in the skills test components of the class I and II Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination (KEMTLE), which requires examinees to select items randomly. METHODS: The results of 1,309 class I KEMTLE examinations and 1,801 class II KEMTLE examinations in 2013 were subjected to analysis. Items from the basic and advanced skills test sections of the KEMTLE were compared to determine whether some were significantly more difficult than others. RESULTS: In the class I KEMTLE, all 4 of the items on the basic skills test showed significant variation in difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as 4 of the 5 items on the advanced skills test (P<0.05). In the class II KEMTLE, 4 of the 5 items on the basic skills test showed significantly different difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as all 3 of the advanced skills test items (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: In the skills test components of the class I and II KEMTLE, the procedure in which examinees randomly select questions should be revised to require examinees to respond to a set of fixed items in order to improve the reliability of the national licensing examination.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Medical Technicians* ; Humans ; Licensure*

No abstract available.
Curriculum* ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Medical Technicians* ; Humans

A statistical observation was made on 409 cases of vasectomy in the Department of Urology, National Police Hospital during the period from April, 1973 to September, 1976.
Humans ; Police ; Urology ; Vasectomy*