Anders Bremer

Suspicion and treatment of severe sepsis. An overview of the prehospital chain of care.

BackgroundSepsis is a life-threatening condition where the risk of death has been reported to be even higher than that associated with the major complications of atherosclerosis, i.e. myocardial infarction and stroke. In all three conditions, early treatment could limit organ dysfunction and thereby improve the prognosis.AimTo describe what has been published in the literature a/ with regard to the association between delay until start of treatment and outcome in sepsis with the emphasis on the pre-hospital phase and b/ to present published data and the opportunity to improve various links in the pre-hospital chain of care in sepsis.MethodsA literature search was performed on the PubMed, Embase (Ovid SP) and Cochrane Library databases.ResultsIn overall terms, we found a small number of articles (n = 12 of 1,162 unique hits) which addressed the prehospital phase. For each hour of delay until the start of antibiotics, the prognosis appeared to become worse. However, there was no evidence that prehospital treatment improved the prognosis.Studies indicated that about half of the patients with severe sepsis used the emergency medical service (EMS) for transport to hospital. Patients who used the EMS experienced a shorter delay to treatment with antibiotics and the start of early goal-directed therapy (EGDT). Among EMS-transported patients, those in whom the EMS staff already suspected sepsis at the scene had a shorter delay to treatment with antibiotics and the start of EGDT.There are insufficient data on other links in the prehospital chain of care, i.e. patients, bystanders and dispatchers.ConclusionSevere sepsis is a life-threatening condition. Previous studies suggest that, with every hour of delay until the start of antibiotics, the prognosis deteriorates. About half of the patients use the EMS. We need to know more about the present situation with regard to the different links in the prehospital chain of care in sepsis.

Experiencing Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Significant Others’ Lifeworld Perspective

When patients suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), significant others find themselves with no choice about being there. After the event they are often left with unanswered questions about the life-threatening circumstances, or the patient’s death, or emergency treatment and future needs. When it is unclear how the care and the event itself will affect significant others’ well-being, prehospital emergency personnel face ethical decisions. In this article we describe the experiences of significant others present at OHCA, focusing on ethical aspects and values. Using a lifeworld phenomenological approach, 7 significant others were interviewed. The essence of the phenomenon of OHCA can be stated as unreality in the reality, which is characterized by overwhelming responsibility. The significant others experience inadequacy and limitation, they move between hope and hopelessness, and they struggle with ethical considerations and an insecurity about the future.The study findings show how significant others’ sense of an OHCA situation, when life is trembling, can threaten values deemed important for a good life.

Balancing between closeness and distance: emergency medical services personnel's experiences of caring for families at out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and sudden death

INTRODUCTION Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a lethal health problem that affects between 236,000 and 325,000 people in the United States each year. As resuscitation attempts are unsuccessful in 70-98% of OHCA cases, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel often face the needs of bereaved family members. PROBLEM Decisions to continue or terminate resuscitation at OHCA are influenced by factors other than patient clinical characteristics, such as EMS personnels knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding family emotional preparedness. However, there is little research exploring how EMS personnel care for bereaved family members, or how they are affected by family dynamics and the emotional contexts. The aim of this study is to analyze EMS personnels experiences of caring for families when patients suffer cardiac arrest and sudden death. METHODS The study is based on a hermeneutic lifeworld approach. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 EMS personnel from an EMS agency in southern Sweden. RESULTS The EMS personnel interviewed felt responsible for both patient care and family care, and sometimes failed to prioritize these responsibilities as a result of their own perceptions, feelings and reactions. Moving from patient care to family care implied a movement from well-structured guidance to a situational response, where the personnel were forced to balance between interpretive reasoning and a more direct emotional response, at their own discretion. With such affective responses in decision-making, the personnel risked erroneous conclusions and care relationships with elements of dishonesty, misguided benevolence and false hopes. The ability to recognize and respond to peoples existential questions and needs was essential. It was dependent on the EMS personnels balance between closeness and distance, and on their courage in facing the emotional expressions of the families, as well as the personnels own vulnerability. The presence of family members placed great demands on mobility (moving from patient care to family care) in the decision-making process, invoking a need for ethical competence. CONCLUSION Ethical caring competence is needed in the care of bereaved family members to avoid additional suffering. Opportunities to reflect on these situations within a framework of care ethics, continuous moral education, and clinical ethics training are needed. Support in dealing with personal discomfort and clear guidelines on family support could benefit EMS personnel.

Futile cardiopulmonary resuscitation for the benefit of others: An ethical analysis

It has been reported as an ethical problem within prehospital emergency care that ambulance professionals administer physiologically futile cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to patients having suffered cardiac arrest to benefit significant others. At the same time it is argued that, under certain circumstances, this is an acceptable moral practice by signalling that everything possible has been done, and enabling the grief of significant others to be properly addressed. Even more general moral reasons have been used to morally legitimize the use of futile CPR: That significant others are a type of patient with medical or care needs that should be addressed, that the interest of significant others should be weighed into what to do and given an equal standing together with patient interests, and that significant others could be benefited by care professionals unless it goes against the explicit wants of the patient. In this article we explore these arguments and argue that the support for providing physiologically futile CPR in the prehospital context fails. Instead, the strategy of ambulance professionals in the case of a sudden death should be to focus on the relevant care needs of the significant others and provide support, arrange for a peaceful environment and administer acute grief counselling at the scene, which might call for a developed competency within this field.

The impact of direct admission to a catheterisation lab/CCU in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction on the delay to reperfusion and early risk of death: results of a systematic review including meta-analysis.

BackgroundFor each hour of delay from fist medical contact until reperfusion in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) there is a 10% increase in risk of death and heart failure. The aim of this review is to describe the impact of the direct admission of patients with STEMI to a Catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) as compared with transport to the emergency department (ED) with regard to delays and outcome.MethodsDatabases were searched for from April-June 2012 and updated January 2014: 1) Pubmed; 2) Embase; 3) Cochrane Library; 4) ProQuest Nursing and 5) Allied Health Sources. The search was restricted to studies in English, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian languages.The intervention was a protocol-based clinical pre-hospital pathway and main outcome measurements were the delay to balloon inflation and hospital mortality.ResultsMedian delay from door to balloon was significantly shorter in the intervention group in all 5 studies reported. Difference in median delay varied between 16 minutes and 47 minutes.In all 7 included studies the time from symptom onset or first medical contact to balloon time was significantly shorter in the intervention group. The difference in median delay varied between 15 minutes and 1 hour and 35 minutes. Only two studies described hospital mortality. When combined the risk of death was reduced by 37%.ConclusionAn overview of available studies of the impact of a protocol-based pre-hospital clinical pathway with direct admission to a cath lab as compared with the standard transport to the ED in ST-elevation AMI suggests the following. The delay to the start of revascularisation will be reduced. The clinical benefit is not clearly evidence based. However, the documented association between system delay and outcome defends the use of the pathway.

Health status and psychological distress among in-hospital cardiac arrest survivors in relation to gender

AIM To describe health status and psychological distress among in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) survivors in relation to gender. METHODS This national register study consists of data from follow-up registration of IHCA survivors 3-6 months post cardiac arrest (CA) in Sweden. A questionnaire was sent to the survivors, including measurements of health status (EQ-5D-5L) and psychological distress (HADS). RESULTS Between 2013 and 2015, 594 IHCA survivors were included in the study. The median values for EQ-5D-5L index and EQ VAS among survivors were 0.78 (q1-q3=0.67-0.86) and 70 (q1-q3=50-80) respectively. The values were significantly lower (p<0.001) in women compared to men. In addition, women reported more problems than men in all dimensions of EQ-5D-5L, except self-care. A majority of the respondents reported no problems with anxiety (85.4%) and/or symptoms of depression (87.0%). Women reported significantly more problems with anxiety (p<0.001) and symptoms of depression (p<0.001) compared to men. Gender was significantly associated with poorer health status and more psychological distress. No interaction effects for gender and age were found. CONCLUSIONS Although the majority of survivors reported acceptable health status and no psychological distress, a substantial proportion reported severe problems. Women reported worse health status and more psychological distress compared to men. Therefore, a higher proportion of women may be in need of support. Health care professionals should make efforts to identify health problems among survivors and offer individualised support when needed.

Ethical values in emergency medical services A pilot study

Background: Ambulance professionals often address conflicts between ethical values. As individuals’ values represent basic convictions of what is right or good and motivate behaviour, research is needed to understand their value profiles. Objectives: To translate and adapt the Managerial Values Profile to Spanish and Swedish, and measure the presence of utilitarianism, moral rights and/or social justice in ambulance professionals’ value profiles in Spain and Sweden. Methods: The instrument was translated and culturally adapted. A content validity index was calculated. Pilot tests were carried out with 46 participants. Ethical considerations: This study conforms to the ethical principles for research involving human subjects and adheres to national laws and regulations concerning informed consent and confidentiality. Findings: Spanish professionals favoured justice and Swedish professionals’ rights in their ambulance organizations. Both countries favoured utilitarianism least. Gender differences across countries showed that males favoured rights. Spanish female professionals favoured justice most strongly of all. Discussion: Swedes favour rights while Spaniards favour justice. Both contexts scored low on utilitarianism focusing on total population effect, preferring the opposite, individualized approach of the rights and justice perspectives. Organizational investment in a utilitarian perspective might jeopardize ambulance professionals’ moral right to make individual assessments based on the needs of the patient at hand. Utilitarianism and a caring ethos appear as stark opposites. However, a caring ethos in its turn might well involve unreasonable demands on the individual carer’s professional role. Since both the justice and rights perspectives portrayed in the survey mainly concern relationship to the organization and peers within the organization, this relationship might at worst be given priority over the equal treatment and moral rights of the patient. Conclusion: A balanced view on ethical perspectives is needed to make professionals observant and ready to act optimally – especially if these perspectives are used in patient care. Research is needed to clarify how justice and rights are prioritized by ambulance services and whether or not these organization-related values are also implemented in patient care.

Responsibility and compassion in prehospital support to survivors of suicide victim – Professionals’ experiences

Background: Death is not only an ending: it is also a beginning for the survivors. Early support can ease suicide victim survivors grieving and reduce the risk of negatively impacting ones mental ...

Defibrillation before EMS arrival in western Sweden

Background Bystanders play a vital role in public access defibrillation (PAD) in out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Dual dispatch of first responders (FR) alongside emergency medical services (EMS) can reduce time to first defibrillation. The aim of this study was to describe the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in OHCAs before EMS arrival. Methods All OHCA cases with a shockable rhythm in which an AED was used prior to the arrival of EMS between 2008 and 2015 in western Sweden were eligible for inclusion. Data from the Swedish Register for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (SRCR) were used for analysis, on‐site bystander and FR defibrillation were compared with EMS defibrillation in the final analysis. Results Of the reported 6675 cases, 24% suffered ventricular fibrillation (VF), 162 patients (15%) of all VF cases were defibrillated before EMS arrival, 46% with a public AED on site. The proportion of cases defibrillated before EMS arrival increased from 5% in 2008 to 20% in 2015 (p < 0.001). During this period, 30‐day survival increased in patients with VF from 22% to 28% (p = 0.04) and was highest when an AED was used on site (68%), with a median delay of 6.5 min from collapse to defibrillation. Adjusted odds ratio for on‐site defibrillation versus dispatched defibrillation for 30‐day survival was 2.45 (95% CI: 1.02–5.95). Conclusions The use of AEDs before the arrival of EMS increased over time. This was associated with an increased 30‐day survival among patients with VF. Thirty‐day survival was highest when an AED was used on site before EMS arrival.

Caring science research in the ambulance services: an integrative systematic review

Background The ambulance services are associated with emergency medicine, traumatology and disaster medicine, which is also reflected in previous research. Caring science research is limited and, since no systematic reviews have yet been produced, its focus is unclear. This makes it difficult for researchers to identify current knowledge gaps and clinicians to implement research findings. Aim This integrative systematic review aims to describe caring science research content and scope in the ambulance services. Data sources Databases included were MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, Web of Science, ProQDiss, LibrisDiss and The Cochrane Library. The electronic search strategy was carried out between March and April 2015. The review was conducted in line with the standards of the PRISMA statement, registration number: PROSPERO 2016:CRD42016034156. Review methods The review process involved problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis and reporting. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using a five‐stage method. Studies included were evaluated with methodological and/or theoretical rigour on a 3‐level scale, and data relevance was evaluated on a 2‐level scale. Results After the screening process, a total of 78 studies were included. The majority of these were conducted in Sweden (n = 42), fourteen in the United States and eleven in the United Kingdom. The number of study participants varied, from a case study with one participant to a survey with 2420 participants, and 28 (36%) of the studies were directly related to patients. The findings were identified under the themes: Caregiving in unpredictable situations; Independent and shared decision‐making; Public environment and patient safety; Life‐changing situations; and Ethics and values. Conclusion Caring science research with an explicit patient perspective is limited. Areas of particular interest for future research are the impact of unpredictable encounters on openness and sensitivity in the professional–patient relation, with special focus on value conflicts in emergency situations.