@article {Bowlesemermed-2016-206172, author = {Christopher T Bowles and Rachel Hards and Neil Wrightson and Paul Lincoln and Shishir Kore and Laura Marley and Jonathan R Dalzell and Binu Raj and Tracey A Baker and Diane Goodwin and Petra Carroll and Jane Pateman and John J M Black and Paul Kattenhorn and Mark Faulkner and Jayan Parameshwar and Charles Butcher and Mark Mason and Alexander Rosenberg and Ian McGovern and Alexander Weymann and Carl Gwinnutt and Nicholas R Banner and Stephan Schueler and Andre R Simon and David W Pitcher}, title = {Algorithms to guide ambulance clinicians in the management of emergencies in patients with implanted rotary left ventricular assist devices}, elocation-id = {emermed-2016-206172}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1136/emermed-2016-206172}, publisher = {British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine}, abstract = {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.}, issn = {1472-0205}, URL = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2017/11/10/emermed-2016-206172}, eprint = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2017/11/10/emermed-2016-206172.full.pdf}, journal = {Emergency Medicine Journal} }