Citation

Herkner H, Eisenburger P, Havel C, Laggner AN. Resuscitation 2002; 52(3): 293-296.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, Vienna General Hospital, Medical School, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. harald.herkner@akh-wien.ac.at

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11886736

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Physical exhaustion is a frequent condition in emergency medical teams after in-house emergency runs, which might affect the quality of advanced care. Newly available light-weight scooters may reduce exertion as measured by the cardiovascular response in these circumstances and, therefore, may reduce physical exhaustion on arrival. METHODS: We undertook a randomised cross-over trial in a simulated in-house emergency alarm run to examine the influence of scooting compared with conventional running on pulse rate (primary outcome), manual skillfulness and response time. RESULTS: We tested 24 emergency department professionals in eight emergency medical teams. After scooting the pulse rate was significantly lower compared with conventional running [157 (IQR 145-169) vs. 170 (IQR 154-175) min(-1), P=0.004]. After the simulated emergency alarm run no difference was found in manual skillfulness and response time between scooting and running. CONCLUSION: Using scooters for simulated in-house emergency alarm runs markedly reduces the cardiovascular response of emergency medical teams.

Language: en