- 作者：Christopher W. Seymour ; MD ; MSc&lowast ; ; ; David Carlbom ; MD&lowast ; ; Ruth A. Engelberg ; PhD&lowast ; ; Jonathan Larsen ; BS&dagger ; ; Eileen M. Bulger ; MD ; FACS&Dagger ; ; Michael K. Copass ; MD&dagger ; ; § ; ; Thomas D. Rea ; MD ; MPH鈥?/sup>
- 关键词：emergency medical services ; education ; sepsis
- 刊名：Journal of Emergency Medicine
- 出版年：2012
- 期刊代码：156_07364679
- 类别：med
- 出版时间：June, 2012
- 卷：42
- 期：6
- 页码：666-677
- 文件大小：1022 K
Background
Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel commonly encounter sepsis, yet little is known about their understanding of sepsis.Study Objectives
To determine the awareness, knowledge, current practice, and attitudes about sepsis among EMS personnel.
Methods
We performed an anonymous, multi-agency, online survey of emergency medical technicians (EMTs), firefighter-emergency medical technicians (FF-EMTs), and paramedics in a metropolitan, 2-tier EMS system. We compared responses according to the level of EMS training and used multivariable logistic regression to determine the odds of correctly identifying the definition of sepsis, independent of demographic and professional factors.
Results
Overall response rate of study participants was 57%(786/1390), and was greatest among EMTs (79%; 276/350). A total of 761 respondents (97%) had heard of the term 鈥渟epsis.鈥?EMTs and FF-EMTs were at significantly reduced odds of correctly defining sepsis compared to paramedics, independent of age, sex, and years of experience (EMTs: odds ratio 0.44, 95%confidence interval 0.3-0.8; FF-EMTs: odds ratio 0.32, 95%confidence interval 0.2-0.6. Overall, knowledge of the clinical signs and symptoms and recommended treatments for sepsis was typically > 75%, though better among paramedics than EMTs or FF-EMTs (p < 0.01). The majority of respondents believed sepsis is not recognized by EMS 鈥渟ome鈥?or 鈥渁 lot鈥?of the time (76%, 596/786).
Conclusions
EMS personnel demonstrated an overall sound awareness of sepsis. Knowledge of sepsis was less among FF-EMTs and EMTs compared to paramedics. These results suggest that paramedics could be integrated into strategies of early identification and treatment of sepsis, and EMTs may benefit from focused education and training.