EMS Needs to Assume the Role of Messaging for COVID-19

When the nation refers to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is nobody closer to the front than EMS workers. Not only do EMS workers enter the high viral loaded homes of people sick with COVID-19, but they also then spend up to about 30 minutes in the back of a poorly ventilated enclosed space with that person during treatment and transport. This exposure time places the EMS provider in direct danger – making the process of donning, decontaminating and doffing PPE of paramount importance. The beginning of the pandemic saw old protocols used for severe hypoxia. This led to an enormous amount of intubation and ventilator use until doctors began to understand the pathophysiology of the virus better.  Doctors then figured out that better outcomes could be achieved by utilizing oxygen, proning/positioning, high-flow nasal cannula and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), amongst other interventions. This put intubation as the last resort, rather than the first action. The medical community learned one of the most challenging aspects about COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020, “silent hypoxia.” In the field, EMS providers and patients presenting to the hospital were found to have oxygen saturations levels abnormally low with no symptoms of respiratory distress. Saturations were so low that it was assumed that it must have been equipment malfunction. These oxygen saturation levels were confirmed with arterial blood gas analysis, lung scans showing se...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Commentary Coronavirus Exclusives Patient Care EMS EMT Paramedic Source Type: news