Dashing with scooters to in-hospital emergencies: a randomised cross-over experiment.
OBJECTIVE
Physical exhaustion is a frequent condition in emergency medical teams after in-house emergency runs, which might affect the quality of advanced care. Newly available light-weight scooters may reduce exertion as measured by the cardiovascular response in these circumstances and, therefore, may reduce physical exhaustion on arrival.


METHODS
We undertook a randomised cross-over trial in a simulated in-house emergency alarm run to examine the influence of scooting compared with conventional running on pulse rate (primary outcome), manual skillfulness and response time.


RESULTS
We tested 24 emergency department professionals in eight emergency medical teams. After scooting the pulse rate was significantly lower compared with conventional running [157 (IQR 145-169) vs. 170 (IQR 154-175) min(-1), P=0.004]. After the simulated emergency alarm run no difference was found in manual skillfulness and response time between scooting and running.


CONCLUSIONS
Using scooters for simulated in-house emergency alarm runs markedly reduces the cardiovascular response of emergency medical teams.
Herkner
Harald
H
Department of Emergency Medicine, Vienna General Hospital, Medical School, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. harald.herkner@akh-wien.ac.at
Eisenburger
Philip
P
Havel
Christof
C
Laggner
Anton N
AN
D000328:Adult; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011674:Pulse; D014186:Transportation; D000078329:Workforce