Appointment of new CPR Director

Dr Damien Ryan has recently succeeded Dr Cathal O’Donnell as Director of CPR. Damien is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine in Limerick and has a strong background in pre-hospital care both in Ireland and abroad. Damien completed an EMS Fellowship at the University of Toronto in 2010 and has published on pre-hospital topics such as STEMI bypass and medical response units.


Research Register

CPR is now launching a “Research Register”. The register will contain details of pre-hospital research projects in Ireland and it is hoped that this will help promote future collaborations between researchers. If you have previously conducted research in the pre-hospital field and would like to be included in the register please contact Jennifer on jennifer.fitzgerald@ul.ie or 061 234756.

Quarterly Research Update

The following articles were published recently and may be of interest;

Blanchard et al 2012 Emergency Medical Services Response Time and Mortality in an Urban Setting. Pre-hospital Emergency Care 16; 1: 142–151
 
A Canadian retrospective cohort study investigating whether an eight minute response time is associated with mortality in an urban all-advanced life support emergency medical services setting.

Jones et al 2012 Callers’ Experiences of making Emergency Calls at the Onset of Acute Stroke: A Qualitative Study. Emergency Medical Journal 29: 502-505

  This article aims to identify delays between onset of stroke symptoms and calling of emergency help. It highlights the need for further public education to increase awareness of stroke symptoms.

Larabee et al 2012 Vasopressors in Cardiac Arrest: A Systematic Review. Resuscitation 83: 932-939

This review summarises recent studies relating to the effectiveness of vasopressors for cardiac arrest resuscitation, which is currently one of the most controversial topics in the prehospital literature.

While these articles are published in reputable peer-reviewed journals in many cases the research presented is in the preliminary stages. It is the responsibility of practitioners to ensure that they only operate within their own scope of practise as defined by PHECC CPGs.

Research Workshop

The topic of our next workshop is Critical Appraisal which will take place in UL on Wednesday 28th November. To register please contact Jennifer on jennifer.fitzgerald@ul.ie or 061 234756.