The management of acquired coagulopathy in multiple clinical settings frequently involves fibrinogen supplementation. Cryoprecipitate, a multidonor product, is widely used for the treatment of acquired hypofibrinogenemia following massive bleeding, but it has been associated with adverse events. We aimed to review the latest evidence on cryoprecipitate for treatment of bleeding.

We conducted a narrative review of current literature on cryoprecipitate therapy, describing its history, formulations and preparation, and recommended dosing. We also reviewed guideline recommendations on the use of cryoprecipitate in bleeding situations and recent studies on its efficacy and safety.

Cryoprecipitate has a relatively high fibrinogen content; however, as it is produced by pooling fresh frozen donor plasma, the fibrinogen content per unit can vary considerably. Current guidelines suggest that cryoprecipitate use should be limited to treating hypofibrinogenemia in patients with clinical bleeding. Until recently, cryoprecipitate was deemed unsuitable for pathogen reduction, and potential safety concerns and lack of standardized fibrinogen content have led to some professional bodies recommending that cryoprecipitate is only indicated for the treatment of bleeding and hypofibrinogenemia in perioperative settings where fibrinogen concentrate is not available. While cryoprecipitate is effective in increasing plasma fibrinogen levels, data on its clinical efficacy are limited.

There is a lack of robust evidence to support the use of cryoprecipitate in bleeding patients, with few prospective, randomized clinical trials performed to date. Clinical trials in bleeding settings are needed to investigate the safety and efficacy of cryoprecipitate and to determine its optimal use and administration.

In traumatically injured patients, excessive blood loss necessitating the transfusion of red blood cell (RBC) units is common. Indicators of early RBC transfusion in the pre-hospital setting are needed. This study aims to evaluate the association between hypothermia (<36°C) and transfusion risk within the first 24 hours after arrival to hospital for a traumatic injury.

We completed an audit of all traumatically injured patients who had emergent surgery at a single tertiary care center between 2010 and 2014. Using multivariable logistic regression analysis, we evaluated the association between pre-hospital hypothermia and transfusion of ≥1 unit of RBC within 24 hours of arrival to the trauma bay.

Of the 703 patients included to evaluate the association between hypothermia and RBC transfusion, 203 patients (29%) required a transfusion within 24 hours. After controlling for important confounding variables, including age, sex, coagulopathy (platelets and INR), hemoglobin, and vital signs (blood pressure and heart rate), hypothermia was associated with a 68% increased odds of transfusion in multivariable analysis (OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.11-2.56).

Hypothermia is strongly associated with RBC transfusion in a cohort of trauma patients requiring emergent surgery. This finding highlights the importance of early measures of temperature after traumatic injury and the need for intervention trials to determine if strategies to mitigate the risk of hypothermia will decrease the risk of transfusion and other morbidities.

There has been limited evaluation of handover from emergency medical services (EMS) to the trauma team. We sought to characterize these handover practices to identify areas of improvement and determine if handover standardization might be beneficial for trauma team performance.

Data were prospectively collected over a nine-week period by a trained observer at a Canadian level one trauma centre. A randomized scheduled was used to capture a representative breadth of handovers. Data collected included outcome measures such as duration of handover, structure of the handover, and information shared, process measures such as questions and interruptions from the trauma team, and perceptions of the handover from nurses, trauma team leaders and EMS according to a bidirectional Likert scale.

79 formal verbal handovers were observed. Information was often missing regarding airway (present 22%), breathing (54%), medications (59%), and allergies (54%). Handover structure lacked consistency beyond the order of identification and mechanism of injury. Of all questions asked, 35% were questioning previously given information. The majority of handovers (61%) involved parallel conversations between team members while EMS was speaking. There was a statistically significant disparity between the self-evaluation of EMS handovers and the perceived quality determined by nurses and trauma team leaders.

We have identified the need to standardize handover due to poor information content, a lack of structure and active listening, information repetition, and discordant expectations between team members. These data will guide the development of a co-constructed framework integrating the perspectives of all team members.

Population density can limit the level of care that can be provided in local facilities in Ontario, and as such, patients with severe illnesses often require interfacility transfers to access specialized care. This study aimed to identify causes of delay in interfacility transport by air ambulance in Ontario.

Causes of delay were identified by manual review of electronic patient care records (ePCRs). All emergent interfacility transfers conducted by Ornge, the sole provider of air-based medical transport in Ontario, between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 were included. The ePCRs were reviewed if they met one or more of the following: (1) contained a standardized delay code; (2) contained free text including “delay”, “wait”, or “duty-out”; (3) were above the 75th percentile in total transport time; or (4) were above the 90th percentile in time to bedside, time at the sending hospital, or time to receiving facility.

Our search strategy identified 1,220 ePCRs for manual review, which identified a total of 872 delays. Common delays cited included aircraft refueling (234 delays), waiting for land emergency medical service (EMS) escort (146), and staffing- or dispatch-related issues (124). Other delays included weather/environmental hazards (43); mechanical issues (36); and procedures, imaging, or stabilization (80).

Some common causes of interfacility delay are potentially modifiable: better trip planning around refueling and improved coordination with local EMS, could reduce delays experienced during interfacility trips. To better understand causes of delay, we would benefit from improved documentation and record availability which limited the results in this study.

We aimed to determine the rate of adverse events during interfacility transport of cardiac patients identified as low risk by a consensus-derived screening tool and transported by primary care flight paramedics (PCP(f)).

We conducted a health records review of adult patients diagnosed with a cardiac condition who were identified as low risk by the screening tool and transported by PCP(f). We excluded patients transported by an advanced care crew, those accompanied by a clinical escort from hospital, and those transported from a scene call, by rotary wing or ground vehicle. We recorded patient and transportation parameters using a piloted-standardized collection tool. We defined adverse events during transport a priori. We report descriptive statistics using mean (standard deviation), [range], (percentage).

We included 400 patients: mean age 66.9 years old, 66.5% male. Mean transport duration was 136.2 (74.9) minutes. Most common comorbidities were hypertension (50.3%) and coronary artery disease (39.5%). Most transports originated out of Northern Ontario and were for cardiac catheterization (61.8%) or coronary artery bypass grafting (26.8%). Overall, the adverse event rate was low (0.3%), with no serious event such as cardiac arrest, death, or airway intervention.

A screening tool can identify cardiac patients at low risk for clinical deterioration during air-medical transport. We believe patients screened with this tool can be transported safely by a PCP(f) crew, leading to potentially significant resource savings.

Timely access to definitive care is associated with improved outcomes in trauma patients. The goal of this study is to identify patient, institutional and paramedic risk factors for non-optimal resource utilization for interfacility transfers of injured adult patients transported by air ambulance to a LTC.

This is a retrospective cohort study of adult emergent interfacility transports via Ornge with data collected on patient demographics, clinical status, sending facilities, transport details and paramedic qualifications. A logistic regression model was used to analyze data.

1777 injured patients undergoing transport with Ornge were analyzed with 805 of these undergoing non-optimal transport. Patients who had an optimal resource use were found to be older and mechanically ventilated. Risk factors increasing odds of non-optimal transport included patients transported from a nursing station (OR 1.94), transport with primary or advanced care paramedics (OR 6.57 and 1.44, respectively) and transport between both 0800-1700 and 1700-0000 (OR 1.40 and 1.54, respectively). The median delay to arrival to receiving facility if a patient had a non-optimal resource use was 40 minutes.

Three main risk factors were identified in this study. We believe that nursing stations as a sending facility and type of paramedics crew transporting patients resulted in non-optimal resource utilization primarily due to triage of lower acuity patients. However the timing of day is more likely to be a resource availability issue and something that can be further studied and potentially improved moving forward.

The Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) exam is a rapid ultrasound test to identify evidence of hemorrhage within the abdomen. Few studies examine the accuracy of paramedic performed FAST examinations. The duration of an ultrasound training program remains controversial. This study's purpose was to assess the accuracy of paramedic FAST exam interpretation following a one hour didactic training session.

The interpretation of paramedic performed FAST exams was compared to the interpretation of physician performed FAST examinations on a mannequin model containing 300ml of free fluid following a one hour didactic training course. Results were compared using the Chi-square test. Differences in accuracy rate were deemed significant if p < 0.05.

Fourteen critical care flight paramedics and four emergency physicians were voluntarily recruited. The critical care paramedics were mostly ultrasound-naive whereas the emergency physicians all had ultrasound training. The correct interpretation of FAST scans was comparable between the two groups with accuracy of 85.6% and 87.5% (∆1.79 95%CI -33.85 to 21.82, p = 0.90) for paramedics and emergency physicians respectively.

This study determined that critical care paramedics were able to use ultrasound to detect free fluid on a simulated mannequin model and interpret the FAST exam with a similar accuracy as experienced emergency physicians following a one hour training course. This suggests the potential use of prehospital ultrasound to aid in the triage and transport decisions of trauma patients while limiting the financial and logistical burden of ultrasound training.

Early administration of blood products to patients with hemorrhagic shock has a positive impact on morbidity and mortality. Smaller hospitals may have limited supply of blood, and air medical systems may not carry blood. The primary outcome is to quantify the number of patients meeting established physiologic criteria for blood product administration and to identify which patients receive and which ones do not receive it due to lack of availability locally.

Electronic patient care records were used to identify a retrospective cohort of patients undergoing emergent air medical transport in Ontario, Canada, who are likely to require blood. Presenting problems for blood product administration were identified. Physiologic data were extracted with criteria for transfusion used to identify patients where blood product administration is indicated.

There were 11,520 emergent patient transports during the study period, with 842 (7.3%) where blood product administration was considered. Of these, 290 met established physiologic criteria for blood products, with 167 receiving blood, of which 57 received it at a hospital with a limited supply. The mean number of units administered per patient was 3.5. The remaining 123 patients meeting criteria did not receive product because none was unavailable.

Indications for blood product administration are present in 2.5% of patients undergoing time-sensitive air medical transport. Air medical services can enhance access to potentially lifesaving therapy in patients with hemorrhagic shock by carrying blood products, as blood may be unavailable or in limited supply locally in the majority of patients where it is indicated.

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is an essential tool for physicians to guide treatment decisions in both hospital and prehospital settings. Despite the potential patient care and system utilization benefits of prehospital ultrasound, the financial burden of a “hands-on” training program for large numbers of paramedics remains a barrier to implementation. In this study, we conducted a prospective, observational, double-blinded study comparing paramedics to emergency physicians in their ability to generate usable abdominal ultrasound images after a 1-hour didactic training session.

Canadian aeromedical critical care paramedics were compared against emergency medicine physicians in their ability to generate adequate abdominal ultrasound images on five healthy volunteers. Quality of each scan was evaluated by a trained expert in POCUS who was blinded to the identity of the participant using a 5-point Likert scale and using the standardized QUICk Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) assessment tool.

Fourteen Critical care paramedics and four emergency department (ED) physicians were voluntarily recruited. Of paramedics, 57% had never used ultrasound before, 36% has used ultrasound without formal training, and 7% had previous training. Physicians had a higher proportion of usable scans compared with paramedics (100% v. 61.4%, Δ38.6%; 95% confidence interval, 19.3–50.28).

Paramedics were not able to produce images of interpretable quality at the same frequency when compared with emergency medicine physicians. However, a 61.4% usable image rate for paramedics following a short 1-hour didactic training session is promising for future studies, which could incorporate a short hands-on tutorial while remaining cost-effective.

Military Forward Aeromedical Evacuation and civilian Helicopter Emergency Medical Services are widely used to conduct Primary Aeromedical Retrieval. Crew composition in Primary Aeromedical Retrieval missions varies considerably. The ideal composition is unknown. Thus, we conducted a descriptive systematic review on mortality and other outcomes for different Primary Aeromedical Retrieval crew compositions.

Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched up to January 2020. Results were reported per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Studies of adult trauma air transported by different crews were included. Population, injury severity, crew composition, procedures, and outcomes, including mortality, were abstracted. Risk of bias was assessed using previously validated tools. A lack of reported effect measures precluded a quantitative analysis.

Sixteen studies met inclusion criteria (3 prospective studies, 1 case-control, and 12 retrospective). Overall, studies reported a mortality benefit associated with advanced health care providers. This was most apparent in patients with severe but survivable injuries. In this population, early rapid sequence induction, endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, thoracostomies, blood products transfusion, and treatment of hemorrhagic shock are better performed by advanced providers and may improve outcomes. The quality of evidence reported a moderate risk of bias in the included studies.

Overall, findings were divergent but showed a trend to decreased mortality in patients treated by advanced providers with interventions beyond the basic paramedic level. This trend was most significant in patients with severe but survivable injuries. These results should be cautiously interpreted because most studies were observational, had small sample sizes, and had a high potential for confounding factors.