A current guide to airway management in prehospital patient care
A patent airway linking the nose and mouth with the lungs is essential to life. In emergency care, individuals may experience airway difficulties for many reasons including major trauma, airway inflam...
The role of the paramedic in identifying modern slavery
Modern slavery is the recruitment or harbouring of people through the use of force and coercion for exploitation. Paramedics have significant potential and unique opportunities regarding the detection...
Exploring the clinical debrief: benefits and barriers
Paramedics are regularly exposed to traumatic situations in the prehospital environment, which can profoundly affect their emotional resilience. A debrief is a recognised tool that is used to manage t...
Legal issues in end-of-life care 2: consent and decision-making
Paramedics are legally and professionally obliged to uphold their patients' right to dignity, respect and autonomy—and this includes the general requirement to obtain their consent before proceeding w...
Paramedic ethics, capacity and the treatment of vulnerable patients
Vulnerable patients are at an increased risk of harm or exploitation in healthcare. Their vulnerability may impede their autonomy, which can then affect their ability to self-advocate. Clinicians have...
End-of-life care part 1: implications for paramedic practice
Caring for patients who are approaching the end of life is an important part of the paramedic's role. Patients' circumstances are individual; for some, death is expected and may even a welcome (albeit...
Ethics and law in paramedic practice: boundaries of capacity and interests
Decision-making is central to the everyday practice of paramedicine. Paramedics must deliver appropriate clinical care within the boundaries of the law, clinical guidelines and evidence-based standard...
Exploring the concept of ‘informed consent’ within the context of paramedic practice
The phrase ‘informed consent’ is used widely in healthcare. Practitioners ask their patients for their consent to a treatment or a diagnostic or monitoring procedure and, if consent is given, will doc...
Hand hygiene and stopping the spread of COVID-19
Health professionals' lack of compliance with hand hygiene is a problem in both hospitals and emergency medical services. The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is spreading ar...
Non-traumatic chest pain: pericarditis
Pericarditis is an inflammation of the two layers of pericardium, the thin, sac-like membrane that surrounds the heart. Its causes are thought to be viral, fungal or bacterial. Pericarditis may also p...
Fatal poisoning with 2,4-Dinitrophenol: learning via case study
2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) is an industrial chemical. It is illegal to sell it for human consumption in countries including the UK and the US. However, as DNP is available illegally online, accidental or...
Point-of-care testing for C-reactive protein in acute cough presentations in primary care
Acute cough is one of the most common illnesses in the UK, with an estimated 48 million cases per annum. The majority of these presentations are thought to be of viral aetiology and self-limiting in n...