Avoiding Common Prehospital Errors, will help you develop the deep understanding of common patient presentations necessary to prevent diagnostic and treatment errors and to improve outcomes. Providing effective emergency care in the field is among the most challenging tasks in medicine. You must be able to make clinically vital decisions quickly, and perform a wide range of procedures, often under volatile conditions. Written specifically for the prehospital emergency team, this essential volume in the Avoiding Common Errors Series combines evidence-based practice with well-earned experience and best practices opinion to help you avoid common errors of prehospital care. Look inside and discover... • Concise descriptions of each error are followed by insightful analysis of the “hows” and “whys” underlying the mistake, and clear descriptions of ways to avoid such errors in the future. • “Pearls” highlighted in the text offer quick vital tips on error avoidance based on years of clinical and field experience. • Focused content emphasizes "high impact" areas of prehospital medicine, including airway management, cardiac arrest, and respiratory and traumatic emergencies.

Avoiding Common Prehospital Errors, will help you develop the deep understanding of common patient presentations necessary to prevent diagnostic and treatment errors and to improve outcomes. Providing effective emergency care in the field is among the most challenging tasks in medicine. You must be able to make clinically vital decisions quickly, and perform a wide range of procedures, often under volatile conditions.Written specifically for the prehospital emergency team, this essential volume in the Avoiding Common Errors Series combines evidence-based practice with well-earned experience and best practices opinion to help you avoid common errors of prehospital care.Look inside and discover...* Concise descriptions of each error are followed by insightful analysis of the "hows" and "whys" underlying the mistake, and clear descriptions of ways to avoid such errors in the future.* "Pearls" highlighted in the text offer quick vital tips on error avoidance based on years of clinical and field experience.* Focused content emphasizes "high impact" areas of prehospital medicine, including airway management, cardiac arrest, and respiratory and traumatic emergencies.

This core textbook defines the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying the disease states commonly encountered by pre-hospital care providers. The chapters are short, clinically focused and specific to the diseases, disorders, and traumatic conditions of critical interest to the EMT and pre-hospital environment. Each chapter identifies the appropriate drugs and management guidelines to be used. Designed to bridge the gap between EMT and the Physician in all emergent or acute conditions, the book includes management cautions and tips are highlighted throughout the presentation. The book is tailored specifically to the curriculum for EMT training.

Designed to shine a light on one of the most frequently overlooked skills in a first responders toolbox, the critical ability to write a strong, accurate and detailed EMS report. If You Didn't Write It Down, It Never Happened, is a deep dive into EMS documentation. This book details the essential need for both the paramedic and the EMT to gather the necessary information that is going to be required to produce this vital piece of legal documentation. Different approaches to style and format are looked at, as well as examples for each are included in this book. Also covered is a section addressing many of the medical and trauma calls you might respond to along with a list of details and questions you may want to consider documenting somewhere in your report. In addition, you will learn who the various professionals are that will be reading your report once it's been submitted. From the ER physician who you'll turn your patient over to, to the QI officer who is looking to improve and develop protocols and standards, all the way to your billing department, who are looking to get the skills and service you provided reimbursed. You will learn what specific information each will be looking for and exactly how your patient care report will benefit not only your patient, but also you the provider and your profession as a whole. After reading this book, you will never again take your EMS documentation for granted.

This pocket book succinctly describes 215 common, serious errors made by attendings, residents, fellows, CRNAs, and practicing anesthesiologists in the practice of anesthesia and offers practical, easy-to-remember tips for avoiding these errors. The book can easily be read immediately before the start of a rotation or used for quick reference. Each error is described in a quick-reading one-page entry that includes a brief clinical scenario, a short review of the relevant physiology and/or pharmacology, and tips on how to avoid or resolve the problem. Illustrations are included where appropriate. The book also includes important chapters on human factors, legal issues, CPT coding, and how to select a practice.

Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.

In the newly revised second edition of ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine, a team of experienced prehospital practitioners deliver a comprehensive up-to-date guide to the rapidly evolving field of prehospital emergency medicine. The book includes evidence-based practice and expert opinion to meet the needs of the PHEM training curriculum covering operational, clinical and system considerations. An international team of expert editors and contributors have also provided readers with: A thorough introduction to prehospital emergency medicine, including activation and deployment, personal protective equipment, and scene safety and assessment Comprehensive exploration of the primary survey, airway, breathing, and circulation assessments Practical discussions of prehospital anesthesia, analgesia, sedation, monitoring and ultrasound The prehospital management of medical, trauma and psychiatric emergencies How to care for special groups, including the elderly, obstetric, pediatric, and bariatric patients Considerations in mass casualty and chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear incidents. ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine is essential reading for paramedics, doctors, nurses and other prehospital practitioners. The text is ideal for those undertaking subspecialty PHEM training, those studying for postgraduate prehospital degree modules, or practitioners undertaking PHEM exams.

Cardiac arrest can strike a seemingly healthy individual of any age, race, ethnicity, or gender at any time in any location, often without warning. Cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in the United States, following cancer and heart disease. Four out of five cardiac arrests occur in the home, and more than 90 percent of individuals with cardiac arrest die before reaching the hospital. First and foremost, cardiac arrest treatment is a community issue - local resources and personnel must provide appropriate, high-quality care to save the life of a community member. Time between onset of arrest and provision of care is fundamental, and shortening this time is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of death and disability from cardiac arrest. Specific actions can be implemented now to decrease this time, and recent advances in science could lead to new discoveries in the causes of, and treatments for, cardiac arrest. However, specific barriers must first be addressed. Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival examines the complete system of response to cardiac arrest in the United States and identifies opportunities within existing and new treatments, strategies, and research that promise to improve the survival and recovery of patients. The recommendations of Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival provide high-priority actions to advance the field as a whole. This report will help citizens, government agencies, and private industry to improve health outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest across the United States.

This pharmacology book and handy reference is a complete guide to the most common medications used in prehospital care. It reflects current trends in prehospital care and the most recent drug information. This revision will update the book to cover the current AHA guidelines for cardiac care and will be updated to include the most recent drug information available. Chapter topics include pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; administration of drugs; drug dosage calculations; fluids, electrolytes, and IV therapy; the automatic nervous system; drugs used in the treatment of emergencies: cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic-endocrine, neurological, obstetrical and gynecological, toxicological, behavioral, and gastrointestinal; and drugs used in pain management. For practicing paramedics.

Steven "Kelly" Grayson has seen the best of us at our worst. When hearts stop working, when blood alcohol levels exceed limits we shouldn't contemplate, when bodies are extricated from car wrecks, he's been there to pick up the pieces, save our lives, and watch us slip away. En Route is an unflinching look at the heart of a paramedic and the profession that shaped him. Grayson's touching stories of life and death and the hilarious ones of times in between are here to give us an insight of what happens after we call 911, the ambulance doors close, or even what happens inside the ER when the nurse shows the family to the waiting room.