The effect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak on the willingness of laypersons to provide bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) using standard CPR (SCPR) or compression-only CPR (CCPR) was evaluated.The preferred type of SCPR in the post-SARS era was assessed.

A descriptive study was conducted through telephone interviews. Persons who attended a CPR coursefrom January 2000 through February 2003 answered a structured questionnaire. The respondents' willingnessto perform SCPR or CCPR during a witnessed cardiac arrest of an average adult stranger or that of a family member in the pre-SARS and the post-SARS era was surveyed.

Data for 305 respondents were processed. For the scenario of cardiac arrest of an average stranger, more respondents would perform CCPR than SCPR in the pre-SARS era (83.6% vs. 61.3%, p <0.001) and in the post- SARS era (77.4% vs. 28.9%, p <0.001). In the scenario of the cardiac arrest of a family member, more would perform CCPR than SCPR in the pre-SARS era (92.8% vs. 87.2%, p <0.001) and in the post-SARS era (92.8% vs. 84.9%, p <0.001). After SARS, more respondents were unwilling to perform SCPR (p <0.001) and CCPR (p <0.001) on strangers. After SARS, more respondents were unwilling to perform SCPR on a family member (p = 0.039), but there was no difference in the preference to perform CCPR (p = 1.000).

Concerns about SARS adversely affected the willingness of respondents to perform SCPR or CCPRon strangers and to perform SCPR on family members.Compression-only CPR was preferred to SCPR to resuscitate strangers experiencing cardiac arrest after the emergence of SARS.

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the standard measure used to quantify the level of consciousness in patients with head injuries.Rapid and accurate GCS scoring is essential for adequate assessment and treatment of critically sick and injured patients. This study sought out to determine the precision and reliability of the GCS among a cohort of Latin American Critical Care Transport Providers.

The study consisted of a cross-sectional design using an Internetbased examination. The evaluation consisted of four focused clinical scenarios with a classification based on severity. For measurement of intra-rater reliability the first and fourth cases were identical. Five minutes were allocated for each scenario. For categorical variables, chi-square testing and Fisher's exact testing were used to assess associations. For all tests, statistical significance was set at the 0.05 level.

A total of 62 providers participated, including 17 physicians and 45 advanced providers (nurses and paramedics). No statistically significant differences were observed between physicians and advanced providers in the correct classification of the individual scenarios. Five of the 17 physicians (29.4%) answered all cases correctly, while none of the 45 advanced providers did (p <0.001). When evaluating the duplicated cases (Cases 1 and 4), five physicians (29.4%) and 11 advanced providers (24.4%) correctly classified the cases. This difference was not statistically significant.

This study demonstrated a poor precision and poor reliability in the use of the Glasgow Coma Scale within the study subjects.

The demography of healthcare workers (HCWs) and non- HCWs seeking medical care at emergency departments after a non-percutaneous potential exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) duringcardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the types and body locations of their exposures, the time elapsed from exposure to emergency department presentation, and usage of HIV-post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for these exposures are described.

A retrospective study of emergency department patients who were exposed to blood or body fluids during CPR in Rhode Island from January 1995–June 2001 was performed.The demography, characteristics of the exposure, and HIV-PEP usage for these patients were compared, and the elapsed time from exposure to evaluation inthe emergency department was calculated.

Of the 39 patients exposed to non-percutaneous blood or body fluid during CPR, 22 were healthcareworkers (HCWs) and 17 were non-HCWs. Thirty-four patients sustained mucous membrane exposures. Most of the patients (69.2%) were exposed to saliva or sputum (p <0.001), experienced a mouth exposure (71.8%; p <0.0001) and presented to the emergency department within one day of their exposure (84.4%; p <0.0001).Three HCWs and no non-HCWs were offered HIV-PEP for their CPR exposure. Of the three HCWs offered PEP, two actually received it.

Nearly half of the patients who presented with non-percutaneous exposures acquired during CPR were not HCWs. Most of the exposures were to saliva or sputum and occurred on their mucous membranes. Continuing education programs on maintaining universal precautions to prevent blood or body fluid exposures and appreciating the benign nature of most non-percutaneous exposures possible during CPR are needed.

The purpose of this research was to determine the preparedness of emergency medical services (EMS) agencies in one US state to cope with a massive epidemic event.

Data were collected primarily through telephone interviews with EMS officials throughout the State. To provide a comparison, nine out-ofstate emergency services agencies were invited to participate.

Emergency medical services agencies from nine of the 23 counties (39%) provided responses to some or all of the questions in the telephone survey. Seven of the nine out-of-state agencies provided responses to the survey. Most of the EMS agencies do not have broad, formal plans for response to large-scale bio-terrorist or pandemic events.

The findings indicate that EMS agencies in this state fundamentally are unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorism or pandemic event.The few existing plans rely heavily on mutual aid from agencies that may be incapable of providing such aid. Therefore, EMS agencies must be prepared to manage a response to these incidents without assistance from any agencies outside of their local community. In order to accomplish this, they must begin planning and develop close working relationships with public health, healthcare, and elected officials within their local communities.

Prehospital and community hospital healthcare providers in the United States must be prepared to respond to burn disasters. Continuing education is the most frequently utilized method of updating knowledge, skills, and competence among healthcare professionals. Since preparedness training must meet multiple educational demands, it is vital to understand how participants'work and educational experience and the program's content and delivery methods impact knowledge acquisition, and how learning influences confidence and competence to perform new skills.

The purpose of this exploratory, convenience sample study was to identify healthcare provider characteristics and continuing education training content areas that were predictive of self-reported improvement in competence after attending a mass-casualty burn disaster continuing education program.

Logistic regression analysis of data from a post-training evaluation from nine, one-day continuing education conferences on mass burn care was used to identify factors associated with improved self-reported competency to respond to mass burn casualties.

The following factors were associated most closely with increased self-reported competency: (1) prehospital work setting (odds ratio (OR) = 3.06, confidence interval (CI) = 0.83–11.30, p = 0.09); (2) 11 or more years of practice (OR = 0.31, CI = 0.09–1.08, p = 0.07); and (3) practice in an urban setting (OR = 0.01, CI = 0.18–0.82, p >0.01). Confidence items included: (1) ability to implement appropriate airway management modalities (OR = 2.31, CI = 1.03–5.17, p >0.04); (2) manage patients with electrical injuries (OR = 4.86, CI = 1.84–12.85, p >0.001); (3) identify non-survivable injuries (OR = 2.24, CI = 0.93–5.43, p = 0.07); and (4) recognize special problems associated with burns in young children or older adults (OR = 2.14, CI = 0.87–5.23, p = 0.10). The final model explained 89.9% of the variability in self-reported competence.

Interventions used to train healthcare providers for burn disasters must cover a broad range of topics. However, learning needs may vary by practice setting, work experience, and previous exposure to disaster events. This evaluation research provides three-fold information for continuing education research: (1) to identify content areas that should be emphasized in future burn care training; (2) to be used as a model for CE evaluation in other domains; and (3) to provide support that many factors must be considered when designing a CE program. Results may be useful to others who are planning CE training programs.

No widely accepted, specialized medical training exists for police officers confronted with medical emergencies while under conditions of active threat. The purpose of this study was to assess medical decisionmaking capabilities of law enforcement personnel under these circumstances.

Web-based surveys were administered to all sworn officers within the county jurisdiction.Thirty-eight key actions were predetermined for nine injured officer scenarios, with each correct action worth one point.Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze results.

Ninety-seven officers (65.1% response rate) responded to the survey. The majority of officers (68.0%) were trained to the first-responder level. Overall mean score for the scenarios was 15.5 ±3.6 (range 7–25). A higher level of medical training (EMT-B/P versus first responder) was associated with a higher mean score (16.6 ±3.4, p = 0.05 vs. 15.0 ±3.6, p = 0.05).Tactical unit assignment was associated with a lower score compared with nonassigned officers (13.5 ±2.9 vs. 16.0 ±3.6, p = 0.0085).No difference was noted based upon previous military experience. Ninety-two percent of respondents expressed interest in a law enforcement-oriented advanced first-aid course.

Tactical medical decision-making capability, as assessed through the nine scenarios, was sub-optimal. In this post 9/11 era, development of law enforcement-specific medical training appears appropriate.