Paramedic PapersHome Daily scans 12 November 2026
Daily scan
Paramedic research, 12 November 2026
A paediatric-heavy day: San Antonio's prehospital whole-blood program describes its paediatric transfusions, a 27,000-case US registry offers survival risk scores for paediatric OHCA, and a meta-analysis finds one in 16 first responders has had hepatitis B.
Listen to the 12 November 2026 podcast episode
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Whole blood in paediatric trauma: early program data
A US retrospective cohort from San Antonio Fire Department's mature prehospital whole-blood program described 73 paediatric recipients (4.3% of 1,703 transfusions, 2018–2025): mostly adolescent males with penetrating trauma, 45% with an elevated age-adjusted shock index and 50% surviving to discharge.
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Risk scores sort survival odds in paediatric OHCA
A US national registry study (CARES, 2013–2023) developed and internally validated paediatric OHCA risk scores from prehospital variables, classifying 26,895 children into low/moderate/high survival groups with AUROC 0.76–0.82 and average discharge-survival probabilities from 3% to 48%.
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Out-of-hospital RSI practice across South African services
A South African multicentre record review of 354 out-of-hospital RSIs performed by emergency care practitioners across three provinces found trauma accounted for 67% of cases, ketamine was documented in 75% and rocuronium in 52%, with pre-oxygenation in 99% and capnography in 84% of cases.
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How common are blood-borne infections in first responders
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 22 studies covering 19,188 prehospital first responders estimated pooled infection prevalence — hepatitis B 6.2%, hepatitis C 1.8%, MRSA colonisation about 4%, and COVID-19 13.6% in unvaccinated staff.
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Longer collapse-to-contact times linked with ROSC
A Chinese single-centre retrospective cohort of 152 OHCA cases found longer collapse-to-first-medical-contact intervals were independently associated with prehospital ROSC — a paradox the authors attribute to case-mix differences rather than a real benefit of slower response.
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Mapping emergency transport in remote Indigenous communities
A global scoping review of 76 publications on prehospital emergency response and transport for rural and remote Indigenous communities found air retrieval dominated the literature (71% of publications) while community first response was rarely evaluated — only 16% of publications used an evaluative design.
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How US states organise EMS and trauma systems
A survey of EMS and trauma system leaders in all 50 US states plus DC found broad protocol and registry coverage — 84% statewide trauma triage protocols, 88% mandatory registry participation — but weak operational coordination, with only 6% a single point of contact for helicopter dispatch and 55% rating their system as needing at least moderate improvement.
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A framework for caring at the scene: STOP
A Swedish-Finnish concept synthesis developed the STOP framework — acute Suffering, act of Togetherness, On-scene space — positioning holistic, patient-centred caring, not just biomedical intervention, as the core of prehospital emergency care.