PCRF Abstracts - Details View

ABSTRACTS

 

Frequency of Medication Administration for Behavioral Emergencies in the Prehospital Setting When Assisting Law Enforcement

Author: Bryant Reid | |

Associate Authors: Jerome C. Munna Jr. | Ginny K. Renkiewicz

 

Introduction

In the prehospital setting, there have been concerns with the prehospital treatment of behavioral emergencies surrounding law enforcement involvement. Out of 9006 use-of-force (UoF) in police-public interactions, only 156 (1.7%) of the subjects displayed significant features for Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS). These interactions were found to have demonstratable increased risk to officers and other public safety officials due to violent behavior displayed.

Objective

To determine if paramedics are more likely to medically treat behavioral emergencies when called to assist law enforcement.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted using the national ESO dataset for patient encounters for the 2020 year. The inclusion criteria were restricted to adult patients (age ≥ 18), ALS-paramedic unit level of care, and primary or secondary impressions restricted to behavioral emergencies. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the likelihood of medication administration in behavioral emergencies when requested to assist law enforcement while controlling for potential confounders.

Results

A total of 398,193 patients were seen for behavioral emergencies. There was no significant difference found in frequency of medication administration in behavioral emergencies between 9-1-1 responses and request to assist law enforcement (OR < .001, P = .999). Regarding behavioral emergencies, paramedics were found to be 24.1% more likely to medically treat males (OR = 1.24, P < .001) and 18.1% more likely to treat minorities (OR = 1.18, P < .05). Patients were 4.6 times more likely to be medically treated in the southern United States when compared to other areas of the country (OR = 4.67, P < .001). The behavioral emergency patient was 2.5% more likely to be medically treated by paramedics in the prehospital setting for every 1 year of age (OR = .97, P < .001) and 27% more likely to be medically treated for every 1-point increase in GCS (OR = .73, P <. 001).

Conclusions

EMS providers did not medically treat behavioral emergencies any different when called to assist law enforcement, compared to other encounters with behavioral emergencies. The patient’s minority status, first GCS score, personal identifiers, and geographic location were good indicators of receiving treatment.