We found no evidence that surge levels and end of shift impact the extent of investigations and treatments provided to patients diagnosed in the ED with heart failure, COPD or sepsis and referred to internal medicine.

BackgroundThe greatest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada has been on long-term care facilities which have accounted for a large majority of the mortality seen in this country. We developed a clinical response team to perform mass as-sessment and provide support to long-term care facilities in Eastern Ontario with large outbreaks in the hope of reducing the impact of the outbreaks. MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study of all residents of LTC facilities supported by our multidisciplinary clinical response team. We collected data about the timing of the outbreak and our deployment, as well as the total number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, and measured the correlation between the timing of our deployment and the observed mortality rate. ResultsOur clinical team was deployed to 14 long-term care facilities, representing 719 cases and 243 deaths (mean ± standard error of mortality 34% ± 4%). Our team was deployed a mean ± standard error of 16 ± 2 days after the declaration of an out-break. There was a significant correlation between an earlier deployment of our clinical team and a lower mortality rate for that outbreak (Pearson’s r = 0.70, p < .01). InterpretationThis retrospective, uncontrolled study of a non-standardized intervention has many potential limitations. However, the data suggest that timely deployment of our clinical response team may improve outcomes in the event of a large outbreak. This clinical team may be useful in future pandemics.

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Introduction: Recent years have brought an epidemic of opioid abuse to Canada. At present, in Ontario, Naloxone may not be administered by any paramedic without the direct online medical approval of a Base Hospital Physician (BHP). The objective of this study was to review the use of Naloxone by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel, under the existing Advanced Life Support Patient Care Standards (ALS-PCS) medical directive for opioid toxicity, for safety and potential complications that may occur with removal of the mandatory patch point. Methods: This study was a retrospective ambulance call report review of consecutive Naloxone requests placed to a BHP of the Regional Paramedic Program of Eastern Ontario (RPPEO) between Oct 1st, 2013 and Oct 31st, 2015. The RPPEO consists of 10 prehospital services, both urban and rural jurisdictions, and has a mix of advance care and primary care paramedics. All ambulance call reports are electronically stored at the secured RPPEO data warehouse. Data was extracted using a standardized data collection tool. All ambulance call reports were reviewed by 2 independent authors (VC, NC). Compliance with the existing medical directive for opioid toxicity was determined. We calculated the frequency of denied Naloxone requests and the rationale for each patch refusal was recorded. We also categorized all adverse events associated with Naloxone administration. Results: From 244 patches, 215 patients were administered Naloxone. Only 7.8% (19/215) of requests for Naloxone were refused; 78.9% (15/19) did not meet existing inclusion criteria for Naloxone administration in the ALS-PCS medical directive for opioid toxicity because the patient’s respiration rate was above 12/min. Of the 215 patients who were administered Naloxone, adverse events were extremely uncommon: 5 (2.3%) became violent or verbally abusive, 1 (0.5%) was transiently hypertensive and 4 (1.9%) vomited. Conclusion: Requests for Naloxone to a BHP are common and yet are seldom declined. The use of prehospital Naloxone is associated with few adverse events. These results demonstrate that it would be safe to remove online medical direction for Naloxone from the ALS-PCS medical directive for opioid toxicity if combined with updated paramedic education.

Introduction: Paramedics are sometimes called for crisis management and relief of symptoms or for patients receiving palliative care. To address the mismatch between the system protocols and resources, and patient's goals of care, a new protocol, new medications, and an 8-hour training program Learning Essentials Approach to Palliative Care (LEAP) were implemented in our provincial EMS system. Methods: Prior to attending their training session paramedics received an invitation to complete an online survey regarding their comfort, confidence, and attitudes toward delivering palliative care. Comfort and confidence questions were scored on a 4-point Likert scale, while attitudes toward specific aspects of care were scored on a 7-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Identifiers will permit linkage of these responses to a repeat survey post-implementation. Results: 188 (58%) paramedics completed the survey of the 325 who opened the link. 134 (68%) were male with a mean age of 38.5 years. 95 (50%) were primary care paramedics. The average experience as a paramedic was 12.7 years, with an estimated mean number of palliative calls per year of 9.6 each. On a 4 point scale, most (156, 83%) were comfortable with providing care to someone with palliative goals, and 130 (69.1%) were comfortable providing care without transport. Only 82 (43.6%) were confident they had the tools to deliver this care, and 76 (40.4%) were confident they could do so without transport to hospital. On a 7 point scale, paramedics disagreed with the statement "caring for dying persons is not a worthwhile experience for me", median 7 (IQR 5-7). Paramedics also disagreed with the statement "Dying persons make me feel uneasy", median 5 (IQR 4-6). Conclusion: Prior to the implementation of the new protocol, medications, and training, most paramedics were comfortable with the concept of providing care with palliative goals and felt that caring for dying persons is a worthwhile experience, but they were not confident that they have the tools and resources to do so. This suggests paramedics would be open to system improvements to meet an unmet healthcare need for crisis management of patients with palliative goals of care.