None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Paramedics working outside of a hospital do not have access to the same diagnostic and testing equipment that are found in an emergency department, such as x-ray or CT scanner machines. This makes assessing patients more challenging, as there is less information available to aid in determining the severity of illness of a patient. This is particularly problematic for patients with COVID-19, as the condition can vary in its severity. Being able to determine the severity of illness is useful when making a plan for a patient’s ongoing care, such as whether they need to be admitted to hospital or can be cared for in the community. Portable ultrasound devices (known as point-of-care ultrasound, or POCUS) can be used by paramedics to visualise some parts of the lung. As COVID-19 is primarily an infection of the lungs, there are well documented changes to the lung tissues that can be seen on ultrasound. These changes correspond to how severe a COVID-19 infection is. However, ultrasound is a relatively new tool for paramedics and is currently mainly used for assessing patients with traumatic injuries, rather than assessing patients with lung infections. This feasibility project aims to asses if paramedics who have already had training in the use of POCUS can accurately interpret lung ultrasound pictures of patients with COVID-19, when compared to an expert. The results from this study can then be used to inform further research into the development of POCUS as a tool to triage patients with COVID-19, and potentially other lung conditions, in the out-of-hospital environment. This study is being coordinated by a higher degree by research candidate at the Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre, University of South Australia.
Interventions
An internet-based inter-rater reliability feasibility study with a participant questionnaire. Participants will self-identify after promotion through social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky) and through informal collegial networks via email. Posts/emails contain a link and include the HREC approval number.
Participants will first be asked some basic demographic and educational questions (participant questionnaire):
-Country of practice
-Clinical scope of practice/role (eg: critical care para
An internet-based inter-rater reliability feasibility study with a participant questionnaire. Participants will self-identify after promotion through social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky) and through informal collegial networks via email. Posts/emails contain a link and include the HREC approval number. Participants will first be asked some basic demographic and educational questions (participant questionnaire): -Country of practice -Clinical scope of practice/role (eg: critical care paramedic, extended care paramedic) -Level and recency of ultrasound training -Self-perceived confidence in ultrasound use (Likert scale) -Frequency of ultrasound use in clinical practice -Patient cohort most frequently examined (trauma or medical patients) The overview chart demonstrating the lung findings has now been removed after further consultation with the supervisory panel. Participants will then be asked to select as many pre-determined image findings (multiple choice questions) as they wish based upon their interpretation on a mixture of still or moving ultrasound clips/images. There are 10 images (five from COVID-19 patients and five from patients with other lung conditions). These images have been sourced from multiple publicly available online sources, which are cited at the end of the survey. The anticipated duration would be no longer than 1 hour; this will be heavily dependent on how long each participant wishes to review the images during their interpretation and there is no time limit on the survey.
Sponsors
University of South Australia
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Paramedic registered in the UK, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand or Australia Has completed training in the use of point-of-care ultrasound
Exclusion criteria
Paramedic students or those not registered Located outside of the UK, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand or Australia Has not received training in the use of point-of-care ultrasound
Outcome results
None listed