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

The Benefits of Pre-hospital POCUS Examinations in Air Rescue

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).

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Emergency Treatment; Point-of-care-ultrasound
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Point-of-care ultrasound examination

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1000

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jürgen Knapp, Dr.; Phone Number: +41765138342; Email: juergen.knapp@insel.ch

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Zurich
    • Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
      • Recruiting
      • Swiss Air Rescue Rega
      • Contact: Jürgen Knapp, Dr.; Phone Number: +41765138342; Email: juergen.knapp@insel.ch

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The Swiss Air Rescue Rega treats more than 12,000 patients annually. It is estimated that 1,000 of these will undergo a prehospital POCUS examination. These include both trauma patients and patients with medical diseases such as pulmonary oedema, COPD, myocardial infarction, etc.

Description

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 Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Diagnosis	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?	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average of 30-60 minutes
Therapeutic interventions	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)?	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average 30-60 minutes
Transportation target	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	During HEMS mission, estimated to be on average 30-60 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Missed findings	Number of findings and which findings are missed during prehospital POCUS?	1 day
Users' subjective assessment	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)	1 day
Diagnostic quality	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)?	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jürgen Knapp, Dr., Bern University Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 16, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 16, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): September 19, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 30, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 25, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Helicopter emergency medical service; POCUS; Diagnostic quality
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Emergencies
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2024-01154

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No