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This study investigates safety and efficacy of the use of audiovisual consultations of emergency medical service (EMS) doctor by paramedics for low urgency events in areas covered with paramedic crews only from emergency medical service stations with distant access to hospital.
The study will be realized on Karlovy Vary EMS areas covered with paramedic crews only from emergency medical service stations with distant access to hospital. Each call on emergency line during 6 weeks study period will be assessed for eligibility. If deemed as low urgency, the event will be randomised into 3 groups. CONTROL group: routine operation of paramedic crew with optional consultation with a doctor over the phone. In the PHONE group and in the VIDEO group, there will be a mandatory consultation of a doctor over the phone or by audiovisual constultation, respectively. The primary outcome of the study is the percent of patients treated on site without the need of hospital transfer. The secondary safety outcome is to evaluate repeated ambulance trips within 48 hours after the patient had been treated at home. Moreover, a qualitative analysis of subjective perception of the event by the patients, paramedic and consulting doctor using the Likert scales will be performed by survey at the end or immediately after the event.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| CONTROL | No Intervention | CONTROL group: low urgency cases with routine operation of paramedic crew with optional consultation with a doctor over the phone. | |
| PHONE | Experimental | In the PHONE group, there will be a mandatory consultation of a doctor over the phone in all low urgency cases. |
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| VIDEO | Experimental | In the VIDEO group, there will be a mandatory consultation of a doctor over the audiovisual consultation in low urgency cases |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandatory phone call consultation | Device | Use of audio consultation (EMS crew smartphones, doctor smarphone) Smartphone (Xiaomi Redmi Note) and bluetooth handsfree headset (Jabra Talk) |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Non-transport of low urgency EMS case to hospital | Based on Karlovy Vary EMS audit data, there is 10% of low urgency cases treated and left on site by paramedics so far. So the primary outcome is to evaluate the rate of non-transports in common daily routine, when the doctor provides phone call consultation on request of paramedics (based on Karlovy Vary EMS protocol) to mandatory phone call consultation and audiovisual consultation with a EMS doctor. Therefore, the primary objective is to evaluate potential benefit audiovisual consultation with EMS doctor on the rate of patients left at home after treatment on site by paramedics. | until 200 cases per group are collected, estimated time 6-8 weeks from the beginning of the study |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| The rate of repeated trips within 48 hours after the patient had been treated at home. | The co-primary safety outcome was repeated EMS trip within 48 hours after the patient had been treated at home. This outcome can confirm and compare the safety among study groups. | until 200 cases per group are collected, estimated time 6-8 weeks from the beginning of the study |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative analysis of subjective perception of phone call and audivisual consultation. | This analysis of subjective perception of each event in all 3 groups will be evaluated. The inevstigators will use Likert scales (1-excellent, 2-good, 3-sufficient, 4-insufficient) to compare phone and audivisual consultation in following parameters: clinical information transfer, situational context, safety of care. Surveys have to be filled and the patient opinion should be asked at the and of an transport or befere the crew leaves the patient on site. The EMS doctor will fill the survey immediately after the phone or audiovisual consultation is provided. |
Each call on emergency line (in action radius of actual position of 11 of 19 Karlovy Vary EMS paramedic crews) will be assessed for eligibility by EMS call-taker in Karlovy Vary region.
Inclusion criteria are:
Exclusion criteria are:
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| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Jiri Smetana, MD | Zdravotnická záchranná služba Karlovarskeho kraje, PO | Study Director |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zdravotnická záchranná služba Karlovarského kraje, p.o. | Karlovy Vary | Carlsbad Region | 360 06 | Czechia |
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Low urgency emergency calls are randomised by call-taker of dispatching center to 3 groups: routine prehospital emergency care without optional phone call consultation (1), with mandatory phone call consultation with base physician (2), with mandatory audivisual consultation with base physician (3). Power analysis. Based on available data prior to the initiation of the study, 10% of patients after low acuity calls were treated on site. The hypothesis that the video consult would lead to doubling this percentage will be investigated. In order to have 80% probability to confirm this at p < 0.05, we would need 200 subjects per group. Planned interim analysis will be after 4 weeks of study (aprox. after 600 eligible cases) .
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| Mandatory audiovisual consultation | Device | Smartphone (Xiaomi Redmi Note) and bluetooth handsfree headset (Jabra Talk) with installed Android application (VSee messenger, USA, HIPAA compliant software) for paramedic crews; personal computer (Windows 10) with desktop version of application VSee messenger for Windows and eqipped with webcamera (Logitech C922 PRO) and headset (Jabra Evolve 20) for consulting doctor. |
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| until 200 cases per group are collected, estimated time 6-8 weeks from the beginning of the study |