ImportanceMortality from pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is high and has not improved in decades, unlike adult mortality. The low frequency of pediatric OHCA and weight-based medication and equipment needs may lead to lower quality of pediatric resuscitation compared with adults.ObjectiveTo compare the quality of pediatric and adult resuscitation from OHCA in a controlled simulation environment and to evaluate whether teamwork, knowledge, experience, and cognitive load are associated with resuscitation performance.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional in-situ simulation study was conducted between September 2020 and August 2021 in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, and included engine companies from fire-based emergency services (EMS) agencies.ExposuresParticipating EMS crews completed 4 simulation scenarios presented in random order: (1) adult female with ventricular fibrillation; (2) adult female with pulseless electrical activity; (3) school-aged child with ventricular fibrillation; and (4) infant with pulseless electrical activity. All patients were pulseless on EMS arrival. Data were captured by the research team in real time during the scenarios.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was defect-free care, which included correct cardiopulmonary resuscitation depth, rate, and compression to ventilation ratio, time to bag-mask ventilation, and time to defibrillation, if applicable. Outcomes were determined by direct observation by an experienced physician. Secondary outcomes included additional time-based interventions and the use of correct medication doses and equipment size. We measured teamwork using the clinical teamwork scale, cognitive load with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index (NASA-TLX), and knowledge using advanced life support resuscitation tests.ResultsAmong the 215 clinicians (39 crews) who participated in 156 simulations, 200 (93%) were male, and the mean (SD) age was 38.7 (0.6) years. No pediatric shockable scenario was defect free and only 5 pediatric nonshockable scenarios (12.8%) were defect free, while 11 (28.2%) adult shockable scenarios and 27 adult nonshockable scenarios (69.2%) were defect free. The mental demand subscale of the NASA-TLX was higher in the pediatric compared with the adult scenarios (mean [SD] pediatric score, 59.1 [20.7]; mean [SD] adult score, 51.4 [21.1]; P = .01). Teamwork scores were not associated with defect-free care.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this simulation study of OHCA, resuscitation quality was significantly lower for pediatric than adult resuscitation. Mental demand may have been a contributor.

Background The efficacy of pre-hospital emergency services is heavily dependent on the effective communication of care providers. This effective communication occurs between providers as part of a team, but also among providers interacting with family members and patients. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a number of communication challenges to emergency care, which are primarily linked to the increased use of PPE. Methods We sought to analyze the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers and pre-hospital care delivery. We conducted focus groups and one-on-one interviews with fire-EMS first responders between Sept 2021 and 2022. Interviews included questions about job related stress, EMS skills, work experiences and changes during Covid-19. Interviews were recorded, independently dual coded, and analyzed for themes. Results 223 first responders participated in 40 focus groups and 40 lead paramedics participated in individual interviews. We found that additional use of personal protective-equipment (PPE) was reported to have significantly impaired efficiency and perceptions of quality of care—among EMS team members and also between EMS workers and patients. EMS personnel also experienced on scene hostility on arrival (from both families and other agencies). Use of extensive PPE muffles voices, obscures facial expressions, and can cause team members to have difficulty recognizing and communicating with one another and can be a barrier to showing empathy and connecting with patients. Creative solutions such as putting a hand on someone’s shoulder, wearing name tags on suits, and explaining rationale for perceived delays were mentioned as methods to transcend these barriers. The appearance of providers in heavy PPE can be unsettling and create barriers to human connection, particularly for pediatric patients. Conclusion Human connection is an important element of health care delivery and healing. These findings shed light on new skills that are needed to initiate and maintain human connection in these times of PPE use, especially full body PPE. Awareness of the communication and empathy barriers posed by PPE is the first step to improving provider-patient interactions in pre-hospital EMS. Additionally, ‘communication-friendly’ adaptations of PPE equipment may be an important area for future research and development in manufacturing and the healthcare industry.

Home births have increased 77% from 2004 to 2017 and further increased with the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority of home births are uneventful, some are complicated and require attendance of emergency medical services (EMS). Understanding characteristics of out-of-hospital births and EMS care is increasingly important to improve care.

Background Wastewater drain (WWD) sites are an important reservoir for amplification, propagation and transmission of multidrug resistant organisms. We observed an increase in the incidence of carbapenem and fluoroquinolone non-susceptible (CP-NS and FQ-NS) P. aeruginosa bloodstream infections (BSI) among patients on our hematologic malignancies (HM) and hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) unit. The incidence of CP-NS/FQ-NS P. aeruginosa BSI from 2012 through May 2021 is represented in Figure 1. We sought to determine the impact of low-cost, low-barrier interventions targeting WWD sites on the prevalence of patient and environmental P. aeruginosa colonization and incidence of BSI. Figure 1. Incidence of P. aeruginosa BSI, 2012 through May 2021 Methods Behavioral and structural interventions to limit acquisition from WWD sites were informed by an environmental analysis and rolled out in staged fashion beginning in September 2019. Pre- and post-intervention colonization surveys were performed on the unit to assess for patient and WWD site P. aeruginosa colonization. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on select isolates. A sensitivity analysis performed accounted for the unconfirmed patient isolates. BSI data was collected retrospectively. Results Characteristics of the pre- and post-intervention groups are presented in Table 1. Five of 27 (18.5%) and 1 of 26 (3.8%) patients in the pre- and post-intervention point prevalence survey, respectively, were confirmed to be colonized with P. aeruginosa (Figure 2), corresponding to a prevalence rate ratio of 0.21 (0.03,1.66). If the two indeterminate samples in the pre-intervention period were positive, the prevalence rate ratio would instead be 0.15 (0.02,1.12). The most frequent P. aeruginosa strains identified by WGS from the patients and environment were 111, 308 and 446. At least 87% of rooms were colonized with P. aeruginosa from at least one WWD site, from pre- and post-intervention periods (Table 2). Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients in each epoch. Results are given as percent (frequency) unless otherwise noted. Chi square test was used unless otherwise noted. Figure 2. Proportion of patients colonized with P. aeruginosa Positive: Colonized with P. aeruginosa, confirmed by WGS; Unknown: Phenotype of isolate suggestive of P. aeruginosa, WGS not performed; Negative: No growth on selective agar or non-P aeruginosa identification on WGS Table 2. WWD site colonization, by phenotypic and WGS determination. Fisher’s exact test was used unless otherwise noted. Conclusion P. aeruginosa WWD colonization on our HM/HCT unit may predispose patients to colonization and BSI. The prevalence of patient colonization decreased following implementation of the interventions, despite persistent environmental colonization. We will follow the incidence of P. aeruginosa BSI to determine the long-term impact of these interventions. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures