Point-of-care-ultrasound in Swiss Air Rescue Rega

Recruiting

• Conditions: Point-of-care-ultrasound; Emergency Treatment

• Registration Number: NCT06602856
• Lead Sponsor: Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

Brief Summary

The aim of the study is, on the one hand, to objectively investigate the patient-oriented benefits of prehospital point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) examinations under the conditions of the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) in Switzerland. On the other hand, the study will show what the diagnostic quality of prehospital POCUS examinations is and how emergency medical teams can be trained to use POCUS in the future.

HEMS crew members will answer a short online questionaire about how findings of their POCUS examination has influenced their medical treatment, diagnosis and selection of target hospital for the patient (primary outcome parameters).

In addition, a study nurse will query the findings of the in-hospital diagnostic tests and compare them with the findings of the pre-hospital POCUS examination. This will enable the investigators to evaluate the diagnostic quality of the prehospital POCUS examination and to identify which findings are often not recognised in the POCUS. The subjective satisfaction and assessment of the benefit of the POCUS examination by the respective users will also be recorded (secondary outcome parameters).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2024-09-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-09-16
• Study First Posted: 2024-09-19
• Study Start: 2024-11-01
• Status Verified: 2025-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-25
• Last Update Posted: 2025-03-30
• Primary Completion: 2026-10-31
• Study Completion: 2027-05-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1000

Inclusion Criteria

• All patients in whom the treating Rega team uses POCUS pre-hospital
• existing written General Consent (with permission to use patient data for research)

Exclusion Criteria

• Age <18 years

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Diagnosis	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average of 30-60 minutes	Number of patients and clinical pictures/injuries of patients in whom the findings of prehospital POCUS influenced the further course of action with regard to diagnosis?
Therapeutic interventions	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average 30-60 minutes	Number of patients and clinical pictures/injuries of patients in whom the findings of prehospital POCUS influenced the further course of action with regard to therapeutic interventions (e.g. pleural decompression, fluid therapy, medication)?
Transportation target	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average 30-60 minutes	Number of patients and clinical pictures/injuries of patients in whom the findings of prehospital POCUS influenced the further course of action with regard to selection of the target hospital

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Missed findings	1 day	Number of findings and which findings are missed during prehospital POCUS?
Users' subjective assessment	1 day	Personal assessment of the users with regard to the benefit for the patient and the applicability of prehospital POCUS on a numeric rating scale from 1 to 10 (1=no benefit, 10=maximum benefit)
Diagnostic quality	1 day	Interrater reliability analysis with the target size Cohen\'s kappa between POCUS findings and findings of in-hospital imaging (ultrasound, conventional X-ray, computed tomography)?

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Swiss Air Rescue Rega; 🇨🇭 Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland