PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE 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 TI - Algorithms to guide ambulance clinicians in the management of emergencies in patients with implanted rotary left ventricular assist devices AID - 10.1136/emermed-2016-206172 DP - 2017 Nov 10 TA - Emergency Medicine Journal PG - emermed-2016-206172 4099 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2017/11/10/emermed-2016-206172.short 4100 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/early/2017/11/10/emermed-2016-206172.full AB - 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.