The diagnostic impact of prehospital 12-lead electrocardiography

Gender Differences in Scene Time, Transport Time, and Total Scene to Hospital Arrival Time Determined by the Use of a Prehospital Electrocardiogram in Patients with Complaint of Chest Pain

“…Although the earliest reports on the effect of performing a prehospital ECG on total scene time demonstrated an increase of approximately 5 min, our findings are consistent with more contemporary reports of nonsignificant delays in scene time with the addition of the PH ECG at the scene (17,18,26,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38). This finding may be a reflection of our EMS system design, which deploys paramedics on both fire first responders and ambulances, thereby increasing the efficiency and speed of patient assessment.…”

Pre-Hospital Electrocardiography by Emergency Medical Personnel

“…These findings support the use of PH ECG for all EMS response patients experiencing chest pain. In particular, the clinically insignificant 18-s prolongation in scene time in our cohort is in contrast to previous reports demonstrating an average increase of 1.2 to 5.2 min in the on-scene time interval (21,(27)(28)(29)32). This difference may be a reflection of our EMS system design, which deploys paramedics on both fire first responders and ambulances and thereby increases the efficiency of rapid patient assessment.…”

“…Currently, approximately 90% of EMS systems serving the 200 largest cities in the United States have PH 12-lead ECG capability (26). However, though the PH ECG helps in reducing the D2B time, some have suggested it may increase total ischemic time by prolonging the time obtaining an ECG at the scene and thus offsetting the reduction in D2B time (16,(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Pre-Hospital 12-Lead Electrocardiography Programs

“…Pre-hospital 12-lead electrocardiography entails application of recording electrodes, capture of electrocardiographic data, automated interpretation using diagnostic algorithms within the device, transmission capability, and the option for over-read of the output by paramedics. The quality of P12ECG data has been shown to be equal to that obtained in the hospital (35,36). Pre-hospital 12-lead electrocardiographic data are readily obtained at the point of care of the patient in the pre-hospital environment, without undue delay in transportation to the hospital (35,(37)(38)(39).…”