Reducing uncertainty about information on injury severity or number of patients is an important concern in managing equipment and rescue personnel in a disaster setting. A simplified disaster model was designed using Shannon’s Information Theory to study the uncertainty of information in a triage scenario.

A disaster triage scene with a specific number of injured patients represents a source of information regarding the extent of patients’ disability. It is possible to quantify uncertainty of information regarding patients’ incapacity as entropy if the information source and information arising from the source in Information Theory can be adapted to the disaster situation and the information on patients’ incapacity that arises.

Five different scenarios of a fire disaster in a hospital were modeled. Information on patients’ extent of impairment was converted to numerical values in relation to available equipment and the number of rescue personnel. Victims were 10 hospitalized patients with conditions of unknown severity. Triage criteria were created arbitrarily and consisted of four categories from Level 1 (able to walk) to Level 4 (cardiac arrest). The five situations were as follows: (1) Case 1: no triage officer; (2) Case 2: one triage officer; (3) Case 3: one triage officer and a message that six patients could walk; (4) Case 4: one triage officer and a message that all patients could obey commands; and (5) Case 5: one triage officer and a message that all patients could walk. Entropy in all cases and the amount of information newly given in Cases 2 through 5 were calculated.

Entropies in Cases 1 through 5 were 5.49, 2.00, 1.60, 1.00, and 0.00 bits/symbol, respectively. These values depict the uncertainty of probability of the triage categories arising in each situation. The amount of information for the triage was calculated as 3.49 bits (ie, 5.49 minus 2.00). In the same manner, the amount of information for the messages in Cases 3 through 5 was calculated as 0.4, 1.0, and 2.0 bits, respectively. These amounts of information indicate a reduction in uncertainty regarding the probability of the triage levels arising.

It was possible to quantify uncertainty of information about the extent of disability in patients at a triage location and to evaluate reduction of the uncertainty by using entropy based on Shannon’s Information Theory.

AjimiY , SasakiM , UchidaY , GakumazawaM , SasakiK , FujitaT , SakamotoT . Quantitative Evaluation for Uncertainty of Information About Patients’ Injury Severity in a Hospital Disaster: A Simulation Study Using Shannon’s Information Theory. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(4):1-4.

Ensuring a stable Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workforce is a growing concern, and effective recruiting strategies are needed to expose young adults to the EMS profession. The objective of this study was to assess the exposure of high school allied health students to EMS as a career option, as well as measure their attitudes and beliefs about the EMS profession.

Few high school allied health students are exposed to EMS educational and career opportunities.

A convenience sample of allied health students in a rural high school system was surveyed about exposure to EMS, career intentions, factors impacting career decisions, and attitudes and beliefs about EMS. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and intention to pursue an EMS career was modeled using logistic regression.

Of 171 students enrolled in allied health courses across six high schools, 135 (78.9%) agreed to participate; 85.2% were female. Almost all (92.6%) respondents intended to pursue a health career, but only 43.0% reported that their allied health course exposed them to EMS as a profession. Few participants (37.7%) were knowledgeable about EMS associate degree or baccalaureate degree (27.4%) programs. Only 20.7% of the respondents intended to pursue EMS as a career, although 46.0% wanted to learn more about the profession. Most (68.2%) students expressed interest in an emergency medical technician (EMT) course if one were offered, and 80.0% were interested in a ride-along program. Independent predictors of pursuing an EMS career included exposure to EMS outside of high school (OR = 7.4, 95% CI = 1.7-30.4); media influence on career choice (OR = 9.6, 95% CI = 1.8-50.1); and the belief that EMS was mentally challenging (OR = 15.9, 95% CI = 1.1-216.6). Negative predictors included the beliefs that an EMS career was stimulating (OR = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.00-0.53) and physically challenging (OR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.00-0.63); as well as prior exposure to an EMS job advertisement (OR = 0.14, 0.03-0.53).

Overall, there was a lack of exposure to career and educational options in EMS among allied health students in the school system studied, and few students intended to pursue an EMS career after graduation. However, the majority of students indicated they would like to learn more about EMS, and would enroll in an EMT course and ride-along program if available. These findings suggest that, with exposure to the profession, more allied health students could choose EMS as a career.

Holloman JB, Hubble MW. High school allied health students and their exposure to the profession of EMS. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(3):1-7.

The Sydney City-2-Surf (Australia) fun run is the world’s largest annual run entered by around 80,000 people. First aid planning at mass-participation running events such as the City-2-Surf is an area in the medical literature that has received little attention. Consequently, first aid planning for these events is based on experience rather than evidence. The models for predicting casualties that currently exist in the literature are either dated or not statistically significant.

The aim of this study was to characterize patterns of injuries linked to geographic location across the course of the City-2-Surf, and to explore relationships of injury types with location and meteorological conditions.

Records for formally treated casualties and meteorological conditions were obtained for the race years 2010-2016 and statistically analyzed to find associations between meteorological conditions, geographic conditions, casualty types, and location.

The most common casualties encountered were heat exhaustion or hyperthermia (39.2%), musculoskeletal (25.4%), and physical exhaustion (10.2%). Associations were found between gradient and the location. Type of casualty incidence with the individual distribution trends of casualty types were quite clear. Clusters of musculoskeletal casualties emerged in the parts of the course with the steepest negative gradients, while a cluster of cardiovascular events was found to occur at the top of the “heartbreak hill,” the longest climb of the race. Regression analysis highlighted the linear relationship between the number of heat and physical exhaustion casualties and the apparent temperature (AT) at 12:00pm (R2 = 0.59; P = .044). This linear equation was used to formulate a model to predict these casualties.

The findings of this study demonstrate the relationship between meteorological conditions, geographic conditions, and casualties. This will assist planners of other similar events to determine optimum allocation of resources to anticipated injury and illness burden.

A heatwave hit the Greater Montreal area during the week of July 1 to July 8. The Urgences-santé Corporation (USC), Quebec’s largest emergency medical service (EMS), saw its crews struggling to respond to a record-breaking number of emergency calls while going door-to-door to make sure the at-risk population was not overburdened by the heat.

USC’s mission was to ensure its population’s emergency medical care and safety under extenuating conditions. In conjunction with our municipal partners and the public health services, we deployed an aggressive communication strategy, urging people to only call 911 in the case of a life-threatening emergency, with the aim of limiting ambulance transports.

Ambulance resources were increased (> 20% compared to the same period in 2017). More than 60 media interviews were given. Paramedic supervisors were sent to emergency departments to contain the offload delays. USC’s community response team was going door-to-door in pre-identified urban heat islands (UHI), bringing medical attention directly to those in need.

Despite our communications efforts, a record-breaking 1,568 calls (> 37% compared to the same period in 2017) were received in a 24 hour period. Through the door-to-door campaign, 12 people in need received medical attention. More than 90 people are suspected to have died as a result of a July heat wave in Quebec, with figures showing that 60 deaths in the cities of Montreal and Laval alone may be linked to elevated temperatures.

Through strong collaboration with our municipal and provincial partners, and the public health services, an important communication strategy and additional resources were deployed. Crews were able to prevent additional deaths. With the observed increase in extreme weather events, this strategy will definitely be useful in the future.

Fibrinolysis is an acceptable treatment for acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) when primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) cannot be performed within 120 minutes. The American Heart Association has recommended Emergency Medical Services (EMS) interventions such as prehospital fibrinolysis (PHF), prehospital electrocardiogram (ECG), and hospital bypass direct to PCI center. Nova Scotia, Canada has incorporated these interventions into a unique province-wide approach to STEMI care. A retrospective cohort analysis comparing the primary outcome of 30-day mortality for patients receiving either prehospital or emergency department (ED) fibrinolysis (EDF) to patients transported directly by EMS from community or regional ED for primary PCI was conducted.

This retrospective, population-based cohort study included all STEMI patients in Nova Scotia who survived to hospital admission from July 2011 through July 2013. Three provincial databases were used to collect demographic, 30-day mortality, hospital readmission, and rescue PCI data. The results were grouped and compared according to reperfusion strategy received: PHF, EDF, patients brought by ambulance via EMS direct to PCI (EMS to PCI), and ED to PCI (ED to PCI).

There were 1,071 STEMI patients included with 145 PHF, 606 EDF, 98 EMS to PCI, and 222 ED to PCI. There were no significant differences in 30-day mortality across groups (n, %): PHF 5(3); EDF 36(6); EHS to PCI <5(2); and ED to PCI 10(4); P = .28. There was no significant difference in patients receiving fibrinolysis who underwent rescue PCI.

Prehospital fibrinolysis incorporated into a province-wide approach to STEMI treatment is feasible with no observed difference in patient 30-day mortality outcomes observed.