A Study on Points of Respiratory Assist Devices Using in Pre-Hospital Care Respiratory Assist Devices in Pre-Hospital Care.

Background: In Japan, increasing the number of ambulance requests, the case with the use of respiratory assistance devices in prehospital care by paramedics is also increasing¹. When patient experiences respiratory failure, the first responders frequently select a respiratory assist device (RAD) such as Bag Valve Mask (BVM), Jackson Rees (JR), or BVM with Gas Supply Valve^® (BVM+GSV). This is based on both evaluation and experience as there is no study indicating which RAD is the best choice at the pre-hospital emergency site. This study clarified the precautions when using BVM, JR, and BVM+GSV in pre-hospital emergency medical care with healthy volunteers.

Methods: Twenty healthy adults were fitted with a RAD while breathing spontaneously, and changes in vital signs and ETCO₂ were observed.

Results: The level of ETCO₂ became elevated after each RAD was attached. The value was significantly higher in the JR group than in the others.

Conclusions: The study showed that even in the presence of spontaneous breathing, ETCO₂ increased markedly with the application of respiratory assist devices that are used in pre-hospital care for conditions such as hypoxemia and ventilatory disturbance. The increase in ETCO₂ was particularly significant in the JR group, suggesting the need for caution when selecting JRs for pre-hospital care. As the number of subjects was only 20 for each RAD, studies with a larger sample size are needed.