Current Research

BCEHS is committed to providing excellence in integrated healthcare. We are actively involved in advancing the science of paramedic care through research and exploration.
To date, BCEHS has been involved in a large number of research and quality improvement projects involving all aspects of pre-hospital care, including:

  • Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
  • Stroke
  • Trauma
  • Palliative care
  • Pediatric and neonatal care
  • Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECMO)
  • Paramedic and crew resource management
  • Airway management
  • Flight and critical care
  • Clinical pathways – “Treat and Refer”
  • Community paramedicine
  • STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction) & acute coronary syndrome
BCEHS is involved in a large number of research and quality improvement projects, involving all aspects of pre-hospital care. The following published scientific research manuscripts involve BCEHS paramedics as both authors and researchers:

  1. R.A. Marshall, A.M.S. Luchkanych, J.S. Morton, N.G. Boyes, A. Zhai, D.D. Marciniuk, Y. Mei, E.Y.Allison, J.K. Shoemaker, B.K. Al-Khazraji, M.D. Allen, C.R. Tomczak, T.D. Olver. Cerebral haemodynamics during arrhythmia in health, ischaemic heart disease and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and in a preclinical swine model. The Journal of Physiology 2022.
  2. E. Spelten, J. van Vuuren, P. O’Meara, et al. Workplace violence against emergency health care workers: What Strategies do Workers use? BMC Emergency Medicine 2022.
  3. R. Armour, J. Helmer, J. Tallon. Paramedic-delivered teleconsultations: a grounded theory study.  Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine 2022.
  4. B. Gruna, L. Golding, M.A. Prusinkiewicz, M. Asamoah-Boaheng, R. Armour, A. Citali Marquez. Comparative 6-Month Wild-Type and Delta-Variant Antibody Levels and Surrogate Neutralization for Adults Vaccinated with BNT162b2 versus mRNA-1273. Microbiology Spectrum 2022.
  5. T. Makrides, L. Ross, C. Gosling, J. Acker, P.r O’Meara. From stretcher bearer to practitioner: A brief narrative review of the history of the Anglo-American paramedic system. Australasian Emergency Care, 2022, ISSN 2588-994X.
  6. T. Makrides, L. Ross, C. Gosling, J. Acker and P. O'Meara. Exploring the structure and characteristics of the Anglo-American paramedic system in developed countries: a scoping review. International Journal of Emergency Services 2021.
  7. J. Yap, M. Haines, A. Nowroozpoor, R. Armour, A. Luongo, G. Sidhu, F. Scheuermeyer, J. Hutton,  J. Helmer, J. Bolster, J. Puyat, J. Christenson, B. Grunau. Rationale for Withholding Professional Resuscitation in Emergency Medical System-attended Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Resuscitation 2021 
  8. Guy, A. Gabers, C. Crisfield, J. Helmer, S. C. Peterson, A. Ganstal, et al. Collaborative Heart Attack Management Program (CHAMP): use of prehospital thrombolytics to improve timeliness of STEMI management in British Columbia. BMJ Open Quality 2021 Vol. 10 Issue 4 Pages e001519. DOI: 10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001519
  9. Grunau, B., Asamoah-Boaheng, M., Lavoie, P.M., Karim, M.E., Kirkham, T.L., Demers, P.A., Barakauskas, V., Marquez, A.C., Jassem, A.N., O’Brien, S.F., Drews, S.J., Haig, S., Cheskes, S., Goldfarb, D.M., A Higher Antibody Response Is Generated With a 6- to 7-Week (vs Standard) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine Dosing Interval, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2021; ciab938
  10. Armour, R., Wall, N., Deakin, J., Helmer, J., Roberts, L., Lee, S. Cardiac Arrest Annual Report 2019/2020: Towards improving resuscitation outcomes (PDF). 2021.
  11. Armour, R., Helmer, J. Paramedic-delivered teleconsultations: A scoping review. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine [Internet]. 2021 Feb.23 [cited 2021 Feb.24];18.
  12. Grunau, B., Helmer, J., Lee, S., Acker, J., Deakin, J., Armour, R., Tallon., Jenneson, S., Christenson, J., Scheuermeyer, F. (2021). Decrease in emergency medical services utilization during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.
  13. Helmer, J., Baranowski, L., Armour, R., Tallon, J., Williscroft, D., Brittain, M. (2021): Developing a paramedic approach to palliative emergencies. Progress in Palliative Care Journal.
  14. Wong, D., Su, D., Mabasa, V., Tallon, J., Acker, J., Wan, W., Jenneson, S. (2021). Accessing the Clinical Utilization of Tranexamic Acid by Paramedics for Patients with Major Trauma (ACUTE). CJEM. 2021. DOI 10.1007/s43678-020-00040-4
  15. Rowell, S., Tallon, J., Schlamp, R., et al. (2020). Effect of Out-of-Hospital Tranexamic Acid vs Placebo on 6-Month Functional Neurological Outcomes in Patients with Moderate of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.  JAMA. 2020;324(10):961-974.
  16. Grunau, B., Bal., Scheuermeyer, F., Guh, D., Dainty, K., Helmer, J., Saini, S., Chakrabarti, A., Broor, N., Sidhu, N., Barbic, D., Christenson, J., Chakrabarti, S., (2020). Bystanders are less willing to resuscitate out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resuscitation Plus Journal 4.
  17. Sinden, S., Heidet, M., Scheuermeyer, F., Kawano, T., Helmer, J., Christenson, J., Grunau, B. (2020). The association of scene-access delay and survival with favourable neurological status in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation Journal. October 155 (211-218).
  18. Olsen, O., Greene, A., Makrides, T., Delport, A. (2020). Large-Scale Air Medical Operations in the Age of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Early Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of British Columbia. Air Medical Journal (2020) 1-3.
  19. Heidet, M., Fraticelli, L., Grunau, B., Cheskes, B., Baert, J., Vilhelm, C., Hubert, H., Tazarourte, K., Vaillancourt, C., Tallon, J., Christenson, J., El Khoury C., on behalf of the Gr-ReAC CanROC investigators. ReACanROC: Towards the creation of a France Canada research network for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation Journal 152 (2020) 133-140.
  20. Armour, R. Helmer, J. & Deakin, J. (2020). Paramedic intubation during a pandemic: Where are the consensus guidelines? Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 17.
  21. Helmer, J., Acker, J., Deakin, J., Johnston, T. (2020). Canadian paramedic experience with intramuscular ketamine for extreme agitation: A quality improvement initiative. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 17.
  22. Makrides, T. (2020) - The structure and characteristics of Anglo-American paramedic systems in developed countries: A scoping review protocol. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 17.
  23. Baranowski, L., & Armour, R., (2020) - Do non-rotational ambulance-based placements affect the development of paramedic competencies from a student perspective? A qualitative study. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 17.
  24. Brittain, M., Michel, C., Baranowski, L., Armour, R., Helmer, J., Poll, A. (2020) - Community paramedicine in British Columbia: A virtual response to COVID-19. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 17.
  25. Tallon, J., Zheng, L., Wei, J., Dick, W., Papadopoulos, G., Djurdjev, O. (2020) Population-based analysis of the effect of a comprehensive, systematic change in an emergency medical services resource allocation plan on 24-hour mortality. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.  January 22(1):86- 94.
  26. Armour, R.; Baranowski, L. (2020). Esmolol for the treatment of refractory ventricular fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Irish Journal of Paramedicine, [S.l.], v. 4, n. 2, jan. 2020. ISSN 2009-938X.