Skip to main content

You must be a logged-in member of UHMS or a subscriber to the UHMS Journal in order to download the articles listed within these pages. If you are a member or subscriber, please log in using the Log In button above. If you would like to purchase a membership or a subscription, use the buttons below.

Join the UHMS
Purchase a Subscription

Search UHM/UBR

Quantification of referrals received at two emergency-capable hyperbaric medicine centers New!

Kinjal Sethuraman, MD, MPH1; Michael Tom, MD2; Kin Wah Chew, MD1; Jonathan Romero-Casillas, MD3; Kevin Hardy, MD2

  1. 1  University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore, MD

  2. 2  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

  3. 3  Ponce School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, San Lucas Hospital, Ponce, Puerto Rico

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Kinjal Sethuraman – ksethuraman@som.umaryland.edu

ABSTRACT

Sethuraman K, Tom M, Chew KW, Ramon Y, Romero-Casillas J, Hardy K. Quantification of referrals received at two emergency-capable hyperbaric medicine centers. Undersea Hyperb Med. 2024 Second Quarter; 51(2):97-100.

Emergency hyperbaric oxygen treatment capability is limited in the United States, and there is little documentation of calls received by centers available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Our study aimed to calculate the number of calls received for urgent hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2). We logged calls from two HBO2 chambers on the East Coast of the United States that serve a densely populated region in 2021. The total number of emergency calls was 187 at the University of Maryland (UMD) and 127 at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). There were calls on 180/365 (46%) days during the study period at UMD and 239/365 (63%) days at UPenn. The most common indication was carbon monoxide toxicity. The peak month of calls was March. Emergency HBO2 calls are common, and more centers must accept emergency cases. Data from geographically diverse centers would add generalizability to these results and capture more diving-related emergencies.

Keywords: epidemiology; hyperbaric facilities; hyperbaric oxygen; intensive care medicine; medical conditions and problems

 

DOI: 10.22462/653