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Home / About Us / Research / Clinical quality registries and clinical trials

Clinical Quality Registries

Clinical quality registries monitor and report on the appropriateness and effectiveness of health care.

Ambulance Victoria is a key data contributor to several Australian Clinical Quality Registries. These include:

  1. The Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Related Ambulance Attendances registry
  2. The Victorian State Trauma Registry
  3. The Victorian Cardiac Outcomes Registry
  4. The Australian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (Aus-ROC) Epistry.
  5. The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry
  6. The Unexplained Cardiac Death Project

We also maintain the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry.

Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry

The Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry (VACAR) is a quality assurance initiative. It captures data on all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests attended by emergency medical services in Victoria. The registry commenced in October 1999.

VACAR data is used to monitor response intervals, treatment protocols and cardiac arrest patient outcomes. Ambulance Victoria clinical and operational data is supplemented with outcome data from Victorian hospitals and the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

In 2010, the VACAR commenced interviews with cardiac arrest survivors 12 months after cardiac arrest to follow up on their health-related quality of life.

The VACAR is one of the largest pre-hospital cardiac arrest registries in the world and supports a significant research program into the care of cardiac arrest patients. View a list of our research publications.

Clinical Trials

Undertaking clinical trials in the pre-hospital environment allows us to expand the evidence base surrounding pre-hospital emergency care.

Our paramedics are currently enrolling patients into:

  1. The AVOID-2 Trial: Lignocaine versus opioids in myocardial infarction
  2. The PATCH Study: Pre-hospital Anti-fibrinolytics for Traumatic Coagulopathy & Haemorrhage
  3. The PASS Study: Paramedic Antibiotics for Severe Sepsis

In collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a number of clinical trials are also underway by clinicians on the Melbourne Mobile Stroke Unit, including:

  1. The STOP-MSU Study: Stopping Haemorrhage With Tranexamic Acid for Hyperacute Onset Presentation Including Mobile Stroke Units
  2. The TASTE-A Study: Tenecteplase Versus Alteplase for Stroke Thrombolysis Evaluation Trial in the Ambulance
  3. The DIRECT-SAFE Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial of DIRECT Endovascular Clot Retrieval Versus Standard Bridging Thrombolysis With Endovascular Clot Retrieval
  4. The ETERNAL-LVO Study: Extending the Time Window for Tenecteplase by Effective Reperfusion in Patients With Large Vessel Occlusion

For more information about research at Ambulance Victoria, please email researchevaluation@ambulance.vic.gov.au.