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NCT Number: NCT06602856

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

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).

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Key information

Conditions

Point-of-care-ultrasound Emergency Treatment

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Swiss Air Rescue Rega

Zurich, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Jürgen Knapp, Dr.

CONTACT

[email protected]

+41765138342

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Point-of-care ultrasound examination

Other

We are investigating the extent to which pre-hospital point-of-care ultrasound examination influences the further deployment tactics, medical treatment and choice of destination hospital for patients.

Primary outcomes

  1. Diagnosis

    Time frame: 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?

  2. Therapeutic interventions

    Time frame: 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)?

  3. Transportation target

    Time frame: 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 outcomes

  1. Missed findings

    Time frame: 1 day

    Number of findings and which findings are missed during prehospital POCUS?

  2. Users' subjective assessment

    Time frame: 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)

  3. Diagnostic quality

    Time frame: 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)?

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Jürgen Knapp, Dr.

CONTACT

[email protected]

+41765138342

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Benefits of Pre-hospital POCUS Examinations in Air Rescue

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2027
First posted
Sep 19, 2024
Registry last updated
Mar 30, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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