Emergency Vehicles
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….
Respiratory Failure and Anaphylaxis
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…
Physician Field Response
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…
Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Prehospital personnel are usually the first health care personnel to encounter sudden illnesses or other health care emergencies in the community setting. Responding to these emergencies…
EMS Medicine: Poisoning and Envenomations
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The poisoned or envenomated patient represents a unique challenge to the EMS medicine practitioner. In many cases the offending medication, toxin, plant, or animal is unknown…
Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen EMS providers are often called to evaluate patients who are behaving oddly or who are having an emotional or mental crisis. Although these conditions are not…
Geriatric Patients
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Adults aged 65 years and older are the foremost utilizers of EMS and are at excess risk for adverse events.1 Studies overwhelmingly agree this high level…
Renal and Urogenital Emergencies
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Urogenital complaints are common presentations to emergency departments and EMS providers. Although not the typical focus of prehospital education and planning, these clinical scenarios represent a…
Hematological and Oncological Emergencies
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Hematological and oncological emergencies are sometimes overlooked in EMS planning and off-line medical direction and may seem less frequent than some trauma and medical conditions. However,…
Gastrointestinal Emergencies
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation are exceedingly common symptoms. In 2007, 10.8 million cases presented to emergency departments with gastrointestinal complaints, representing 9.2% of ED…
