Does Placement of Intravenous Catheters in the Field Help Patients?

An ambitious analysis suggests that it does, but flaws in the study undermine drawing conclusions.

Systematic research on care rendered by paramedics in the prehospital setting is becoming commonplace and fuels the debate about “scoop and run” versus doing more at the scene. Recent retrospective studies have suggested that some care at the scene can be inappropriate or harmful: diuretics for patients with presumed heart failure (JW Emerg Med Jun 13 2006) or prehospital intubation for cardiac arrest patients (JW Emerg Med Nov 19 2010), for example.

To compare hospital mortality between patients who received intravenous catheters in the field and patients who did not, researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of advanced life support ambulance transports in King County, Washington, exclusive of Seattle. Patients with cardiac arrest, tr…

Reviewing Author

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education