TY - JOUR T1 - Algorithms to guide ambulance clinicians in the management of emergencies in patients with implanted rotary left ventricular assist devices JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J DO - 10.1136/emermed-2016-206172 SP - emermed-2016-206172 AU - Christopher T Bowles AU - Rachel Hards AU - Neil Wrightson AU - Paul Lincoln AU - Shishir Kore AU - Laura Marley AU - Jonathan R Dalzell AU - Binu Raj AU - Tracey A Baker AU - Diane Goodwin AU - Petra Carroll AU - Jane Pateman AU - John J M Black AU - Paul Kattenhorn AU - Mark Faulkner AU - Jayan Parameshwar AU - Charles Butcher AU - Mark Mason AU - Alexander Rosenberg AU - Ian McGovern AU - Alexander Weymann AU - Carl Gwinnutt AU - Nicholas R Banner AU - Stephan Schueler AU - Andre R Simon AU - David W Pitcher Y1 - 2017/11/10 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2017/11/10/emermed-2016-206172.abstract N2 - Advances in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy have resulted in increasing numbers of adult LVAD recipients in the community. However, device failure, stroke, bleeding, LVAD thrombosis and systemic infection can be life-threatening emergencies. Currently, four LVAD systems are implanted in six UK transplant centres, each of which provides device-specific information to local emergency services. This has resulted in inconsistent availability and content of information with the risks of delayed or inappropriate decision-making. In order to improve patient safety, a consortium of UK healthcare professionals with expertise in LVADs developed universally applicable prehospital emergency algorithms. Guidance was framed as closely as possible on the standard ABCDE approach to the assessment of critically ill patients. ER -