News in Brief

PumpStart program teaches hands-only CPR to students

The PumpStart initiative, developed by students at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), trains high school students in administering hands-only cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Students in the metro-Boston area who participated in the program “reported significant improvements in CPR technique and confidence in acquired skills” after completing the program, according to the BUSM.

The students viewed a 60-minute training session on hands-only CPR and received hands-on, small group practice time. They completed surveys before and after the training.

“Getting the general public to feel comfortable performing bystander CPR is vital to overall improved survival from cardiac arrest events,” explains Anita Knopov, a fourth-year BUSM medical student, the study’s co-author. She believes that “PumpStart can serve as a model for other organizations and can have a long-term public health impact as bystander CPR continues to be a predominant predictor in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival.”

Reference: Nikita S. Kalluri, Anita Knopov, Ricky Kue. “A Service-Learning Initiative to Teach Hands-Only CPR to High School Students: PumpStart.” Journal of Education, 2018; 002205741881881 DOI: 10.1177/0022057418818817.

College degree for paramedics: groups voice concern

Major national fire service organizations have issued a statement expressing concern over proposed legislative and regulatory efforts to make a college degree a prerequisite for entry-level paramedics, advises the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). The joint statement, issued December 30, 2018, states in part: “Requiring a college degree for entry-level paramedics would create hardships for fire departments and make EMS systems financially unsustainable in many states. There are no identifiable data or other evidence suggesting that requiring paramedics to obtain a college degree would result in better patient outcomes, enhanced professionalism for EMS providers, better performance, or higher pay.” The full statement is at https://bit.ly/2DHuLFe. Other participants in the statement are the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the National Fire Protection Association.

“The NVFC recognizes the value of and supports individuals pursuing higher education opportunities in accredited paramedic programs that offer degrees,” says NVFC EMS/Rescue Section Chair Juan Bonilla. “However, we see no need to transition paramedic training to a college setting exclusively. There are many quality paramedic training programs that do not offer a college degree. Additionally, the NVFC is concerned about the potential impact that a college degree requirement would have on rural EMS agencies that already face significant challenges related to recruitment and retention of personnel and access to training and certification services.”

Meth, similar drug overdoses growing rapidly

Meth and other psychostimulant-related overdose deaths grew by more than 5,000 percent over eight years in Ohio, according to data collected by the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health. The Alliance, a collaboration established by Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions, the University of Toledo’s College of Health and Human Services, and Ohio’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, recently completed a review of unintentional overdose fatalities in Ohio from 2010 to 2017 with a focus on the presence of cocaine and psychostimulant drugs such as methamphetamines and amphetamines.

“This research is invaluable because it gives us deeper understanding, and an early warning indicator, in the ongoing drug crisis,” said Rick Hodges, director of the Alliance and executive-in-residence in Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions.

Orman Hall, author of the analysis and another executive-in-residence at Ohio University, noted, “Cocaine (including crack) and psychostimulants have similar effects. Users experience increased alertness as well as intense feelings of exhilaration and euphoria.” While addiction to stimulants is common, “The recent surge of stimulant-related fatalities in Ohio is concerning,” notes Hall. “Psychostimulants were found in nine unintentional overdose deaths in 2010. That number rose to 509 in 2017, a staggering increase of 5,556 percent.”

Among other findings in the analysis are the following:

• 71 percent of overdose deaths in 2017 involving psychostimulants occurred with fentanyl and 79 percent occurred with some form of opioid. The 2017 data also showed that 12 percent of all unintentional overdose deaths included the use of a psychostimulant.
• Overdose deaths that included cocaine rose 617 percent from 212 in 2010 to 1,520 in 2017. Seventy percent of the overdose deaths involving cocaine in 2017 occurred with fentanyl and 81 percent occurred with some form of opioid. Thirty-two percent of all unintentional overdose deaths included cocaine in 2017.
• Dennis Lowe, commander of the Major Crimes Unit that serves Athens, Hocking, and Fairfield counties, explains that drug cartels are using fentanyl and fentanyl analogs as cutting agents with cocaine and methamphetamine; people are purchasing what they think is straight cocaine or straight methamphetamine when it contains “something that very likely will kill them.”
• Locally and across Ohio, opiate use “has kind of gone underground and methamphetamine and cocaine are charging to the front,” according to Lowe. The Ohio Department of Health says that opioid and heroin overdose deaths are at a four-year low.

Source: Ohio University. “Meth, similar drug overdoses growing rapidly: Meth and other psychostimulant-related overdose deaths grow by over 5,000 percent in Ohio.” ScienceDaily, 6 November 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181106153421.htm>.

IAFC: “New NMAS takes mutual aid to the next level”

The new National Mutual Aid System (NMAS) recently launched by the partnership of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), Juvare, and Esri, will enable U.S. state and local governments to access cutting-edge technology to request, geospatially locate, and strategically deploy response resources, according to the IAFC.

“The existing Mutual Aid Net has been used throughout the United States to identify, request, and deploy resources for mutual aid support,” explains the IAFC; the new NMAS will use the latest technology to accomplish these tasks faster, easier, and more accurately.

“The new NMAS takes mutual aid to the next level, creating a system where all users can access cutting-edge technology to request, geospatially locate, and strategically deploy response resources,” says Chief Dan Eggleston, IAFC president and chairman of the board. NMAS is served through WebEOC and the ArcGIS Extension for WebEOC, which provides access to and integration with Esri’s powerful online tools and dashboards.