Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

PRE‐HOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE: EVALUATION OF AN AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM

1984; Wiley; Volume: 14; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1445-5994.1984.tb03607.x

0004-8291

Per-Gunnar Björklund, M. F. O'Rourke,

Trauma and Emergency Care Studies

Abstract: The efficacy of the Sydney ambulance paramedic service in dealing with out‐of‐hospital cardiac and other emergencies was examined. The outcome of 182 cases (from a total of 1,799 casualty calls) treated by a paramedic service was compared with the outcome of 104 similar cases (from a total of 2,376 calls) treated by a general duties service. There were 33 cases of cardiac arrest in the general duties group; resuscitation was attempted in 12 and none survived. There were 49 cases of cardiac arrest in the paramedic group; resuscitation was attempted in 21 cases and 4 survived. There were 35 cases of suspected myocardial infarction in the general duties group; 7 died compared with 58 cases and 4 deaths, in the paramedic group (mortality 20%, cf . 7%; difference not significant). The increased cost of a paramedic call, less than half of an entire hospital day, appears justified by better results.