Controversial issues in prehospital care

Despite the maturing of prehospital emergency care over the last 25 years, many controversies still persist. Although EMS personnel now widely recognize that medical cardiac arrest patients and traumatic cardiac arrest patients require different amounts of field stabilization and treatment, there is still no clear answer as to how much stabilization using what treatments is necessary. Similarly, although it is widely accepted that out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with ventricular fibrillation should be rapidly defibrillated, there is no consensus as to who should deliver the countershock and with the use of what equipment. These and many other controversies of prehospital care arise because this field is new and rapidly growing.