The Associated Press
Copyright 2007 Associated Press
Press-Register
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A lifesaving tool tested by Mobile Fire-Rescue paramedics in a pilot study will be adopted statewide, officials said.
The tool is called a Vidacare EZ-IO and is used to instantly inject drugs into a person’s body through bone marrow instead of through the more traditional intravenous route. Mobile Fire-Rescue trained all of its medics and conducted field tests with the device on 79 patients between Aug. 22, 2005 and Dec. 2, 2006.
“Since we’ve had it in, we’ve had a lot of great success stories with it,” said fire-rescue Capt. Eric Creel, one of the paramedics who helped test the device. “It has worked wonders in quite a few cases.”
The procedure of injecting into the bone marrow is called intraosseous infusion, commonly referred to as IO, and has been established for decades. It’s used to give fluids and medications to patients on emergency scenes when it might be difficult or take too long to find a vein and administer the medicine intravenously.
“It’s fast and it works,” said Capt. Jack Busby, a fire medic with Mobile Fire-Rescue who wrote the protocol.
“I can have one of those in and set up and be pushing medication before someone can even set up an IV bag,” Busby told the Press-Register in a Monday story. The whole IO process can take as little as 12 seconds, he said.
On a person with difficult veins, setting up a traditional IV can take up to a minute or more, Creel said.
Mobile Fire-Rescue concluded the pilot study of the device in December, and presented the findings to the state Medical Control Committee of the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Office of EMS & Trauma in January, Fire-Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman said.
A modification of the protocol developed by Fire-Rescue was adopted for statewide use in June, and by Oct. 1, an adult IO device will be on every advanced life support ambulance in the state, according to Dr. John Campbell, the state EMS medical director.
Part of the protocol says that the device is only used on very specific patients in very specific cases, Campbell said. That includes patients who are in cardiac arrest or who have a life- or limb-threatening condition.