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Daily scan
Paramedic research, 16 October 2026
10 new paramedic and prehospital papers from the 16 October 2026 scan.
Listen to the 16 October 2026 podcast episode
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Signs of life in traumatic OHCA
Retrospective analysis of 462 adults with traumatic OHCA from a Japanese prospective registry found 4.8% survived beyond the ED, with the best survival where scene cardiac activity and spontaneous respiration coexisted (25%).
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Prehospital pain assessment happens too rarely
Systematic review of eight prehospital observational studies found pain was assessed and documented in only 22.5% to 46.7% of patients, well below recommended standards.
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Delays in NSW paediatric trauma retrieval
Ten-year review of paediatric trauma retrievals by NSW's specialist paediatric transport service found helicopter launch times worsened after 2017 operational changes and teams took over 10 minutes to depart the referring hospital in 80% of missions.
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One in five transports: brief stay, no intervention
Danish population-based cohort of 89,560 emergency calls found 19.1% of transported patients had a hospital stay of six hours or less with no documented in-hospital intervention, with short-term mortality of just 0.4% in that group.
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Self-presenting STEMI patients fare worse
Tehran cohort of STEMI patients found those who self-presented had 2.17 times the in-hospital mortality of EMS-transferred patients, alongside longer door-to-balloon times (60 vs 49 minutes).
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HEMS overtriage in burn injuries
Nine-year Dutch HEMS burn cohort found nearly half of physician-staffed helicopter dispatches for burns were cancelled, mostly for minor injuries, and HEMS-specific interventions were performed in only 33.6% of completed missions.
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Emergency care gaps in mountain populations
Scoping review of 23 sources mapped the barriers to emergency care for transient populations in mountains — terrain, weather, communications and thin EMS capacity — with HEMS and on-site clinics the most cited facilitators.
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ROSC nomogram from a physician-led EMS
Chinese retrospective study of 9,386 non-traumatic OHCA cases built a ROSC prediction nomogram (AUC 0.775) from factors including shockable rhythm, intubation and — unique to physician-staffed systems — the attending physician's sex and seniority.
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Mobile stroke units: value depends on setup
Narrative review concludes mobile stroke units deliver thrombectomy-relevant time savings only when onboard CTA links to direct routing and receiving-centre activation — non-contrast-CT units mainly speed prenotification.
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Validating a moral distress scale for paramedics
Turkish researchers validated a Turkish-language Moral Distress Scale in 215 prehospital emergency clinicians, confirming a five-factor, 20-item structure with high internal consistency (α = 0.90).