TY - JOUR
T1 - Paramedic assessment of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients in the out-of-hospital environment
T2 - a scoping review protocol
AU - Gleeson-Hammerton, Thomas
AU - Pearce, James
AU - Eckert, Marion
AU - Esterman, Adrian
AU - Peters, Micah D. J.
PY - 2025/4/1
Y1 - 2025/4/1
N2 - Objective: The objective of this review is to develop a comprehensive collection of information about the current processes for paramedics assessing and referring patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital environment. Introduction: Paramedics and ambulance service clinicians commonly encounter patients with COVID-19. Increased demand on ambulance services has resulted in many of these services developing alternative referral pathways to avoid unnecessary conveyance to emergency departments. There is not a strong body of literature or rigorous clinical practice guideline on this topic to support the assessment and referral decision-making for patients with COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital setting. Inclusion criteria: Any sources of evidence on patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital environment who are seeking care for COVID-19-related symptoms and being assessed by paramedics will be considered for inclusion. Sources from scholarly literature and gray literature, such as ambulance service clinical practice guidelines, will be included. Sources from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the US, Canada, and the UK will be included. Methods: The review will be guided by the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). A database search for scholarly literature will be performed, followed by a gray literature search. Databases will include MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Scopus (Ovid), Emcare (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), amber, JBI Evidence Synthesis, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Epistemonikos. Gray literature will include clinical practice guidelines, protocols, and procedures obtained from ambulance service websites and apps. Results will be presented through figurative, tabular, and narrative synthesis methods.
AB - Objective: The objective of this review is to develop a comprehensive collection of information about the current processes for paramedics assessing and referring patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital environment. Introduction: Paramedics and ambulance service clinicians commonly encounter patients with COVID-19. Increased demand on ambulance services has resulted in many of these services developing alternative referral pathways to avoid unnecessary conveyance to emergency departments. There is not a strong body of literature or rigorous clinical practice guideline on this topic to support the assessment and referral decision-making for patients with COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital setting. Inclusion criteria: Any sources of evidence on patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the out-of-hospital environment who are seeking care for COVID-19-related symptoms and being assessed by paramedics will be considered for inclusion. Sources from scholarly literature and gray literature, such as ambulance service clinical practice guidelines, will be included. Sources from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the US, Canada, and the UK will be included. Methods: The review will be guided by the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). A database search for scholarly literature will be performed, followed by a gray literature search. Databases will include MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Scopus (Ovid), Emcare (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), amber, JBI Evidence Synthesis, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Epistemonikos. Gray literature will include clinical practice guidelines, protocols, and procedures obtained from ambulance service websites and apps. Results will be presented through figurative, tabular, and narrative synthesis methods.
KW - assessment
KW - COVID-19
KW - out-of-hospital
KW - paramedic
KW - referral
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214452473&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.11124/JBIES-24-00069
DO - 10.11124/JBIES-24-00069
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85214452473
SN - 2689-8381
VL - 23
SP - 801
EP - 811
JO - JBI evidence synthesis
JF - JBI evidence synthesis
IS - 4
ER -
