Page 147 - Ultrasonography in Prehospital and Emergency Medicine - Rein Ketelaars

Prehospital chest ultrasound by a Dutch helicopter emergency medical service 145
diagnosis of asystole was recorded, it was not clear whether CPR stopped or continued as a result. Furthermore, when CPR was stopped, it was not always clear if US influenced this decision. Also, the database allowed for only one treatment change to be recorded for every US examination, although more than one change could be possible. The authors speculate that the role that US plays in the prehospital setting is much greater than the number of changes in treatment decisions we found in this retrospective study.
Another limitation is the fact that data were entered in the database after completion of a scramble. There was no registration on-scene. This may mean that some data are less accurate than they would be with a more objective registration.
In the 326 US examinations of the chest, every detail was not always recorded. During CPR, the cardiac findings were recorded, but any pulmonary details were often omitted.
Due to the design of this study, we could not definitively confirm by follow-up data if the change in treatment decisions concerning chest tubes and transport destinations were cor- rect.
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