Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Flashcards

The 'DCAS dispatch priority system' categorises emergency calls into which primary tiers?

Answer: Priority 1 (life-threatening/lights and sirens), Priority 2 (urgent but stable), Priority 3 (non-urgent/routine)

DCAS uses a priority dispatch system categorising calls by severity to allocate appropriate resources and response times: P1 for immediately life-threatening emergencies, P2 for urgent, and P3 for routine calls.

When transferring patient care to the emergency department, a structured handover using 'SBAR' provides:

Answer: Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation — a structured clinical communication tool

SBAR provides a structured handover framework ensuring critical clinical information — current situation, relevant background, paramedic assessment, and recommended actions — is communicated clearly and efficiently to the receiving team.

'Divert protocols' in Dubai EMS are activated when:

Answer: Receiving hospitals reach capacity and cannot safely accept additional emergency patients

Divert protocols redirect ambulances from hospitals that have declared capacity issues (emergency department overcrowding, diversion status) to alternative appropriate facilities, coordinated through DCAS dispatch.

Pre-hospital documentation in Dubai must include:

Answer: Patient demographics, chief complaint, vital signs, interventions, medications given, and receiving hospital

Comprehensive pre-hospital patient care reports (PCR) must document all clinical information — demographics, history, assessment findings, vital sign trends, interventions, and medications — to ensure continuity of care and medico-legal compliance.

The pre-hospital management of eclampsia (seizures in pregnancy) includes:

Answer: Magnesium sulphate IV, left lateral positioning, oxygen, and rapid transport to obstetric unit

Magnesium sulphate is the first-line treatment for eclamptic seizures, combined with left lateral positioning to relieve aortocaval compression, supplemental oxygen, and urgent transport to a facility with obstetric and neonatal services.

Which principle guides the decision to withhold resuscitation (DNR) in the pre-hospital setting in Dubai?

Answer: Valid documented DNR orders or clear signs of irreversible death (rigor mortis, dependent lividity, decapitation)

Pre-hospital withholding of resuscitation requires valid documented advance directives (DNR orders) or unequivocal physical signs of irreversible death; absent these, resuscitation should be initiated and the matter resolved in hospital.