Prehospital interventions in children

Objectives. Frequently performing procedures assists in skill maintenance. This study was conducted to characterize the frequency and types of basic and advanced prehospital interventions performed on children. Methods. A retrospective study was conducted over a three-month period from emergency medical services (EMS) units working in central Michigan. Data were collected for age, sex, at-scene time, total run time, basic procedures (e.g., spinal immobilization), and advanced procedures (e.g., venous access). Results. A total of 535 EMS runs were reviewed. Runs were excluded for transport refusal (105) and site-to-site transfer (6). Of the remaining 424 children, 287 received an intervention (group 1) and 137 did not (group 2). Group 1 (9.5 ± 5.6 years) was older (p <0.001) than group 2 (6.0 ± 5.8 years). There was no gender predominance between group 1 and group 2 (p = 0.06). In group 1 there were 104 patients who received multiple procedures. Basic procedures (n = 328) included spinal immobilization (14...