The EMS

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The EMS Trauma LiteratureWhat we knowWhat
we dont know

• Daniel Patterson, PhD, MPH, EMT-B
• dpatterson_at_schsr.unc.edu

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Outline

• First
• You have to know where to look for answers!
• Second
• Your search must be systematic!
• Third
• PubMed isn't the only place!

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Service of NLM 16 million citations 4,800
journals published in U.S. and in more than 70
other countries 1950s
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• A helpful tool
• Medical Subject Headings
• Controlled vocabulary and categorization system

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What we know

• Search the literature
• Terms
• Emergency Medical Services
• Trauma Wounds and Injuries
• Nursing and nurses
• Clinical trials, RCTs, Meta-analyses
• Review articles
• Commentaries
• Editorials

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Total number of peer-reviewed articles referenced
in PubMed
Search performed 7/19/2006
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Number of Clinical Trials, Randomized Control
Trials, Meta-Analyses referenced in PubMed
Search performed 7/19/2006
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Number of peer-reviewed review articles
referenced in PubMed
Search performed 7/19/2006
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Number of peer-reviewed commentaries referenced
in PubMed
Search performed 7/19/2006
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Number of peer-reviewed editorials referenced in
PubMed
Search performed 7/19/2006
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Example
EMS
Distance Education
Continuing Education
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Example

• Background
• Job satisfaction ? turnover (Lu et al, 2005)
• EMTs perceive continuing education as burdensome
  and intrusive (Selig et al, 1989 Patterson et
  al, 2005)
• Educational landscape is changing
• 100 elementary secondary schools
• 56 2 4 yr institutions (NCES 2003-017)
• D.E. ? Flexibility (Twigg, 2001 Eastham, 2006)
• It reduces travel, time away from home and
  family, and possibly, is less demanding than
  classroom-based learning

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Among Nationally Registered EMT-Basics and
Paramedics, methods used to fulfill continuing
education requirements
Source Dawson et al, 2003
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• What do we know about EMT and Paramedic use of
  Distance Education for fulfillment of Continuing
  Education requirements?

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Literature Review

• Goal
• improve what is known about use of utilization of
  distance education resources for fulfilling
  continuing education requirements in EMS
• Objective
• identify and document national prevalence
  estimates of distance education utilization by
  EMS professionals

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Parameters

• Search terms
• Emergency Medical Services, Education-Distance,
  Education-Continuing, Inservice Training, and
  Organization Administration

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Parameters

• Inclusion criteria
• The article was an empirical investigation,
  review article, evaluation study, or editorial.
• The study population must include Emergency
  Medical Technicians or other Emergency Medical
  Services personnel.
• All studies related to the research questions
  (both broad and focused) were included.
• The study design included controlled trials,
  cohort studies, case studies, or cross-sectional
  studies.
• Exclusion criteria
• The article did not address distance education or
  any of the other terms falling under the broader
  term of distance education (e.g. distributed
  learning and continuing education).
• The study population was not Emergency Medical
  Technicians or other Emergency Medical Services
  personnel.
• Articles did not meet inclusion criteria.

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Results
Editorials 7
All others 351
EMS, Inservice Training Organization
Administration 117
RCTs 4
Reviews 38
EMS Education, Distance, Continuing 157
Nursing Literature 192
866
1
47 Full Text
454 Abstracts
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Summary

• Before we can answer
• What we know
• What we dont know
• First, you must know how to go about answering
  the question(s)!

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Be systematic
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The Berkshire Eagle January 24, 2006 EMT shortage
worries stockbridge officials
The Lima News December 17, 2005 EMS volunteers
critically needed, speaker says
The Indianapolis Star October 8, 2005 Medic!
Stat! Shortage puts paramedics in high demand
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• Thank you!
• Questions?
• Comments?