Ambulance Emergency Medical Services Professionals' Perspectives on Collaboration With Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Physicians.

Objective: Collaboration between ambulance emergency medical service (EMS) professionals and helicopter EMS (HEMS) physicians has not been extensively highlighted in the literature. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the perspectives of ambulance EMS professionals on their collaboration with the physician-staffed HEMS unit in Finland.

Methods: This survey study was conducted in Finland's first rural physician-staffed HEMS unit's, FinnHEMS40 (FH40), operating area in the autumn of 2023 and repeated after a year.

Prompt dispatcher-initiated tele-CPR and facilitation of bystander's CPR to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes: A prospective cohort study from Finland.

Aim Of The Study: This study focused on the first link of the chain of survival by examining the dispatcher's ability to early recognition of the OHCA patient and assessing patient outcomes.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study that included patients who suffered OHCA in Pirkanmaa Finland in 2022. Two researchers listened to all calls separately determining key-time events of the call.

A Transfer Strategy Utilizing a Helicopter and a Ground Ambulance Together Does Not Prolong Door-In-Door-Out Times in Thrombectomy Patients: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background: An interfacility transfer should commence immediately to a hospital with endovascular capability to perform mechanical thrombectomy when a patient is diagnosed with a large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke. The turnaround time in the primary stroke center (PSC) is called door-in-door-out time (DIDO). We investigated DIDOs from two PSCs and how the implementation of a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) unit for patient transportation together with a ground ambulance affected the DIDO.

Effectiveness of Finnish SISU training in enhancing prehospital personnels' work performance: A randomised controlled pilot study.

Background: Resilience means coping with and recovering quickly from adversities. This is a highly beneficial quality for prehospital personnel, who encounter many unforeseen stressors while on duty. This study investigated whether a novel pre-emptive resilience coaching programme, 'Finnish SISU training' (hereafter SISU), based on the validated International Performance Resilience and Efficacy Program (iPREP), would improve the work performance by enhancing situational and decision-making skills of prehospital personnel.

Pain Assessment and Its Effect on Pain Management During Emergency Medical Services-A Descriptive Study in the Tampere University Hospital Area of Finland.

Background: Pain management is an important part of prehospital care. Pain assessment and recognition are inseparable in adequate pain treatment. However, relatively scarce literature is available from Nordic and European countries.

Correlation between the accuracy of the emergency response centre's urgency assessment and emergency medical services non-conveyance: a retrospective register-based study in Finland.

Background: In modern emergency medical services (EMS), ambulances increasingly focus on examining and treating the patient at the scene. This has led to increased levels of non-conveyance. In Finland, for instance, approximately 40% of EMS dispatches end up in non-conveyance.

Palliative care patients in the emergency medical service: a retrospective cohort study from Finland.

Background: Paramedics are often involved in treating palliative care patients with difficulties regarding symptom control. They report minimal training in palliative care and find decision-making difficult. This often leads to overtreatment and unnecessary transportation to the emergency department.

Optimizing remote and rural prehospital resources using air transport of thrombectomy candidates.

Background: In Finland, the yearly number of mechanical thrombectomies for acute stroke is increasing and more patients are transported over 100 km to the comprehensive stroke centre (CSC) for definitive care. This leaves the rural townships without immediate emergency medical services (EMS) for hours. In this study we compare the EMS' estimated return times to own station after the handover of a thrombectomy candidate between two transport methods: (1) using ground transportation with an ambulance to the CSC or (2) using a hydrid strategy starting the transportation with an ambulance and continuing by air with a helicopter emergency medical services unit (HEMS).

A hybrid strategy using an ambulance and a helicopter to convey thrombectomy candidates to definite care: a prospective observational study.

Background: Mechanical thrombectomy is the treatment of choice for large vessel occlusion strokes done only in comprehensive stroke centres (CSC). We investigated whether the transportation time of thrombectomy candidates from another hospital district could be reduced by using an ambulance and a helicopter and how this affected their recovery.

Methods: We prospectively gathered the time points of thrombectomy candidates referred to the Tampere University Hospital from the hospital district of Southern Ostrobothnia.

Effect of antiplatelet and anticoagulant medication use on injury severity and mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury treated in the intensive care unit.

Background: Antiplatelet and anticoagulant medication are increasingly common and can increase the risks of morbidity and mortality in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Our study aimed to quantify the association of antiplatelet or anticoagulant use in intensive care unit (ICU)-treated TBI patients with 1-year mortality and head CT findings.

Method: We conducted a retrospective, multicenter observational study using the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database.

Compliance with CPR quality guidelines and survival after 30 days following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. A retrospective study.

Background: Our study assessed the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) given by emergency medical services in Southern Ostrobothnia Finland, as is advised in the international guidelines. The goal was to evaluate the current quality of CPR given to patients who suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and to examine possible measures for improving emergency medical services.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland, during a three-year period.

Impact of the first response unit on prehospital on-scene time among paramedic-suspected stroke patients: a retrospective before-after cohort study in Finland.

Background: Revascularization of an occluded artery by either thrombolysis or mechanical thrombectomy is a time-critical intervention in ischaemic stroke. Each link in the stroke chain of survival should minimize the delay to definitive treatment in every possible way. In this study, we investigated the effect of routine dispatch of a first response unit (FRU) on prehospital on-scene time (OST) on stroke missions.

Incidence and risk factors of posttraumatic hydrocephalus and its association with outcome following intensive care unit treatment for traumatic brain injury: a multicenter observational study.

Objective: Posttraumatic hydrocephalus (PTH) is a recognized long-term complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The authors assessed the incidence and risk factors of PTH and its association with outcome in patients with TBI who were treated in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: The authors used the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium (FICC) database to retrospectively identify all adult patients with TBI treated in 4 Finnish tertiary ICUs during 2003-2013.

Differences between the dispatch priority assessments of emergency medical dispatchers and emergency medical services: a prospective register-based study in Finland.

Background: Responsive and efficient emergency medical services (EMS) require accurate telephone triage. In Finland, such services are provided by Emergency Response Centre Agency (ERC Agency). In 2018, a new Finnish computer-assisted emergency dispatch system was introduced: the Emergency Response Integrated Common Authorities (ERICA).

One-year healthcare costs of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage treated in the intensive care unit.

Background: Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) entails significant mortality and morbidity. Severely ill ICH patients are treated in intensive care units (ICUs), but data on 1-year healthcare costs and patient care cost-effectiveness are lacking.

Methods: Retrospective multi-center study of 959 adult patients treated for spontaneous ICH from 2003 to 2013.

External validation of the NeuroImaging Radiological Interpretation System and Helsinki computed tomography score for mortality prediction in patients with traumatic brain injury treated in the intensive care unit: a Finnish intensive care consortium study.

Background: Admission computed tomography (CT) scoring systems can be used to objectively quantify the severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and aid in outcome prediction. We aimed to externally validate the NeuroImaging Radiological Interpretation System (NIRIS) and the Helsinki CT score. In addition, we compared the prognostic performance of the NIRIS and the Helsinki CT score to the Marshall CT classification and to a clinical model.

Cortical symptoms described in emergency calls for patients with suspected large vessel occlusion: a descriptive analysis of 157 emergency calls.

Background: Emergency medical dispatchers typically use the dispatch code for suspected stroke when the caller brings up one or more symptoms from the face-arm-speech triad. Paramedics and emergency department physicians are trained to suspect large vessel occlusion stroke when the stroke patient presents with hemiparesis and cortical symptoms: neglect, aphasia, and conjugate eye deviation (CED). We hypothesized that these symptoms could be evident in the emergency call.

Early thrombocytopenia is associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury treated in the intensive care unit: a Finnish Intensive Care Consortium study.

Background: Coagulopathy after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with poor prognosis.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence and association with outcomes of early thrombocytopenia in patients with TBI treated in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study of adult TBI patients admitted to ICUs during 2003-2019.

Trends in the national early warning score are associated with subsequent mortality - A prospective three-centre observational study with 11,331 general ward patients.

Aim: To investigate whether trends in the NEWS values are associated with patient mortality in general ward patients.

Methods: A one-year prospective observational study in three hospitals in Finland. All data on patients' NEWS values during the first three days of general ward admissions were collected.

Ability of the National Early Warning Score and its respiratory and haemodynamic subcomponents to predict short-term mortality on general wards: a prospective three-centre observational study in Finland.

Objectives: To validate the ability of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) to predict short-term mortality on hospital wards, with a special reference to the NEWS's respiratory and haemodynamic subcomponents.

Design: A large, 1-year, prospective, observational three-centre study. First measured vital sign datasets on general wards were prospectively collected using a mobile solution system during routine patient care.

Advising and limiting medical treatment during phone consultation: a prospective multicentre study in HEMS settings.

Background: We investigated paramedic-initiated consultation calls and advice given via telephone by Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) physicians focusing on limitations of medical treatment (LOMT).

Methods: A prospective multicentre study was conducted on four physician-staffed HEMS bases in Finland during a 6-month period.

Results: Of all 6115 (mean 8.

Trends in Mortality after Intensive Care of Patients with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Finland in 2003-2019: A Finnish Intensive Care Consortium study.

Background: Previous studies suggest that case mortality of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) has decreased during the last decades, but most studies have been unable to assess case severities among individual patients. We aimed to assess changes in severity-adjusted aSAH mortality in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, register-based study by using the prospectively collected Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database.

Trends in mortality after intensive care of patients with traumatic brain injury in Finland from 2003 to 2019: a Finnish Intensive Care Consortium study.

Background: Several studies have suggested no change in the outcome of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) treated in intensive care units (ICUs). This is mainly due to the shift in TBI epidemiology toward older and sicker patients. In Finland, the share of the population aged 65 years and over has increased the most in Europe during the last decade.

Psychotropic medication use among patients with a traumatic brain injury treated in the intensive care unit: a multi-centre observational study.

Background: Psychiatric sequelae after traumatic brain injury (TBI) are common and may impede recovery. We aimed to assess the occurrence and risk factors of post-injury psychotropic medication use in intensive care unit (ICU)-treated patients with TBI and its association with late mortality.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multi-centre observational study using the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database.