Managing Crashing Patients in the Field – Reducing Mortality

EMS providers routinely encounter critically ill medical patients in the field. Taking a “load and go” approach with these patients will often result in increased morbidity and mortality. This presentation will review the concept of “crashing” medical patients and physiological and operation parameters associated with these patients suffering cardiac arrest in the field during care. A management algorithm will be proposed to provide more effective aggressive prehospital care to these patients and improve outcomes. QI data from an urban EMS system will be reviewed highlighting the effectiveness of this strategy.

Persons attending the lecture are eligible to attend a practical session with skills sessions and case based scenarios based on this care strategy. Preregistration for the practical portion is required.