1. State of the Evidence for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Care: The Evolution and Current Methodology of the Prehospital Evidence-Based Practice (PEP) Program
- Author
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Janel Swain, Andrew H. Travers, Ed Cain, Alix J E Carter, D. Fidgen, David A. Petrie, L. Richardson, Jan L Jensen, Jennifer Greene, Judah Goldstein, and Jolene Cook
- Subjects
Emergency Medical Services ,Evidence-based practice ,business.industry ,Psychological intervention ,MEDLINE ,030208 emergency & critical care medicine ,Evidence-based medicine ,medicine.disease ,Clinical Practice ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Knowledge translation ,Evidence-Based Practice ,Emergency medical services ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Medical emergency ,State (computer science) ,Program Development ,business ,Psychology ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic - Abstract
Background Emergency medical services (EMS) leaders and clinicians need to incorporate evidence into safe and effective clinical practice. Access to high-quality evidence, and the time to synthesize it, can be barriers to evidence-based practice. The Prehospital Evidence-Based Practice (PEP) program is an online, freely accessible, repository of critically appraised evidence specific to EMS. This paper describes the evolution and current methodology of the PEP program. Methods|design The purpose of PEP is to identify, catalog and critically appraise relevant studies. Following regular systematic searches, two trained appraisers critically appraise included studies and assign a score on three-point level of evidence (LOE) and direction of evidence (DOE) scales. Each clinical intervention is plotted on a 3 × 3 (LOE × DOE) evidence matrix, which provides a summary recommendation. Discussion The PEP program is a unique knowledge translation tool, specific to EMS. End-users can easily identify which clinical interventions are, or are not, supported by evidence.
- Published
- 2018