There is no reason why paramedics can't give paracetamol or ibuprofen if the
local paramedic steering committtee approves them, John, as they are not
parenteral and there is a licence. I suggest you lobby your paediatric rep
on the Mersey Steering Committee - it used to be Joan Robson, not sure if
she's still doing it or not, but Barbara Phillips may know who it is now.
Thanks for the sensible reminder though - maybe we ought to be checking all
ambulance services are using the basics to their maximum advantage while we
try to sortout this mess
Fiona Jewkes
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Horley" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 10:05 AM
Subject: Prehospital Analgesia for Children
> All the discussion so far has been relating to morphine and diamorph.
> Seeing quite a few kids in our A&E department, a lot of the time a loading
> dose of paracetamol and ibuprofen would do very adequately.
> They are drugs that are readily available to parents over the counter so
why
> not have our paramedics give them
> By the time the child arrives in A&E, he/she is starting to reap the
> benefits of the analgesia.
> Scary amounts of parents will not give their child analgesia but instead
> just dial 999 for the big white bus to hospital so that we can give them
> it...
> Simple analgesia is the key to a lot of pain control.
>
> John Horley
> Staff Nurse A&E
> Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust Hospital
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