INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Trauma and injury account for 182, 479 deaths in 2007, with approximately 31,224 due to penetrating injuries, that is, firearms, and 65,474 secondary to blunt mechanisms,…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The most common source of entrapment and entanglement in most locales is the motor vehicle collision. Other potential sources include industrial accidents and agricultural incidents. It…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Obstetric and gynecological issues are a common reason for patients to seek urgent and emergent care. The most significant of these for the prehospital provider involve…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in America for over 80 years. An estimated 935,000 people in America suffer a myocardial infarction each…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen EMS providers often encounter patients who have become victims of environmental emergencies. Even in urban areas, patients may suffer from heat- or cold-related illnesses. In more…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.∼Dietrich Bonhoeffer Infants, children, adolescents, and young adults create a unique population…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen There are a variety of specially designed and equipped vehicles in service as part of the emergency response system in almost every community in North America….

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Respiratory failure is the inability of the lungs to perform the vital function of gas exchange, and may be caused by an inability to either obtain…

INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Although physicians are not the primary providers of prehospital care in the United States, field response capability is still considered an essential component of a modern…