Base station prehospital care: judgement errors and deviations from protocol

During a three-year period 5,944 paramedic runs were reviewed at the King/Drew Medical Center for deviations from prehospital management protocols established by the Los Angeles Paramedic Training Institute, and from standard medical practice. An overall compliance to the prehospital management protocols of 94% was found. Compliance to standard medical care was 97%. The most common deviations were failure to administer prophylactic lidocaine to patients having chest pain suggestive of myocardial ischemia and failure to apply cervical spine precautions in patients with suspected head trauma. Fifty percent of the radio operators who deviated from algorithms also were found to be making errors in judgment in standard medical care.