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Durham Regional Paramedic Services

offers emergency health care to Durham residents.

Haliburton County Paramedic Service (HCPS)

is committed to promoting the safety and well-being of its citizens.

Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Service

Our team of Primary and Advanced Care Paramedics respond 24/7 to 9-1-1 medical requests for help.

Northumberland Paramedics

Port Hope, Cobourg, Roseneath, Colborne, Brighton and Campbellford

Peterborough County-City Paramedics (PCCP)

provides emergency medical care to citizens and visitors of both Peterborough County and City.

York Region’s paramedics

are dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to patients in York Region.

ALS PCS 5.4

The latest ALS PCS is now available to download. Effective date is June 2, 2025.

Medical Directives

Base Hospital CEPCP

The Central East Prehospital Care Program provides delegation, medical control and advice, quality assurance and continuing medical education to the paramedics and other prehospital care providers of this region.

MedicASK

Welcome to MedicASK. This section of the CEPCP website provides paramedics the opportunity to ask questions to our Medical Directors regarding ALS PCS medical directives or other related patient care opportunities.

All questions will be reviewed and answered by staff within the CEPCP. Please browse through our questions and answers, as well as the latest ALS or BLS Patient Care Standards or Companion Document for the Advanced Life Support Patient Care Standards.

MedicASK Recent Answers

PDE-4 Inhibitors
Under the nitroglycerin contraindications it notes phosphdiesterase inhibitors. In the companion document it references PDE5s, but I do not recall reading that other forms are disclosed from the definition. What about PDE-4 inhibitors?
Treating Non-Epileptic Psychogenic Seizures
What is your opinion on treatment of suspected pseudo seizures? Is there any negative outcome from treating with Midazolam? Additionally, how would you recommend we identify these types of seizures and document our reasoning to not treat them if we choose that route?
Differences in Epinephrine Concentration in Newborns
While reviewing Newborn Resus vs Pediatric VSA I noticed the concentration for epinephrine are different for ETT. I am just curious as to why we use 1:1000 for the pediatric VSA but 1:10000 for the newborn resus.
Pain Management in the Presence of Ischemia.
I have a question about the contraindication in the Analgesia Medical Directive that lists “suspected ischemic chest pain.” My understanding has always been that this meant we should not administer analgesia for ischemic chest pain itself, except for morphine under the Cardiac Ischemia directive. However, if another pain source, such as a headache, occurred alongside suspected ischemia, I thought we could treat that secondary pain with something like acetaminophen.After reviewing some recent discussions and material from other Base Hospital Physicians, I am beginning to wonder if that interpretation is correct. Does the presence of suspected ischemic chest pain act as an absolute contraindication to all analgesia outside of the Cardiac Ischemia directive, or can we still manage unrelated pain once appropriate treatment for ischemia has been initiated?Lastly, if we have administered 160 mg of ASA, does that contraindicate the use of an NSAID due to overlap or interaction?
Analysis on Route with Early Trasnport Considerations?
In medical cardiac arrest cases where a potentially reversible cause cannot be corrected in the field, such as hypothermia, mixed overdose, pregnancy, or a remaining foreign body airway obstruction, should Paramedics continue rhythm analysis every two minutes once transport is prioritized and initiated, or should only one analysis be performed prior to departure similar to a traumatic cardiac arrest?