• David M Lee, David A Berger, Patrick A Wloszczynski, Patrick Karabon, Lihua Qu, and Michael J Burla.
• Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, 586 Pioneer Dr., Rochester, MI 48309, USA. Electronic address: davidlee@oakland.edu.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Mar 1; 41: 46-50.

BackgroundThe management of cardiac arrest patients receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an essential aspect of emergency medicine (EM) training. At our institution, we have a 1-month Resuscitation Rotation designed to augment resident training in managing critical patients. The objective of this study is to compare 30-day mortality between cardiac arrest patients with resuscitation resident (RR) involvement versus patients without. Our secondary outcome is to determine if RR involvement altered rates of initiating targeted temperature management (TTM).MethodsThis study was conducted at a single site tertiary care Level-1 trauma center with an Emergency Department (ED) census of nearly 130,000 visits per year. Data was collected from 01/01/2015 to 01/01/2018 using electronic medical records via query. Patients admitted with cardiac arrest were separated into two groups, one with RR involvement and one without. Initial rhythm of ventricular fibrillation/tachycardia (VFIB/VTACH), 30-day mortality, history of coronary artery disease (CAD), and initiation of TTM were compared. Statistical analysis was performed.ResultsOut of 885 patient encounters, 91 (10.28%) had RR participation. There was no statistical difference in 30-day mortality between patients with RR involvement compared to those without (71.42% vs 66.36%; P = 0.3613). However, TTM was initiated more in the RR group (20.70% vs 8.86%; P = 0.0025). Patients who received TTM also had a lower 30-day mortality compared to those without TTM (52.94% vs 70.87%; P = 0.0020). Patients who were older and had no history of CAD were also noted to have a statistically significant higher 30-day mortality. All other variables were not statistically significant.ConclusionResuscitation resident involvement with the care of cardiac arrest patients had no impact in 30-day mortality. However, the involvement of RR was associated with a statistically significant increase in the initiation of TTM. One limitation is that RR participated in 10.28% of the cases analyzed herein, thus the two arms are unbalanced in size. Future work may investigate if the increase in TTM in the RR involved cases may portend improved rates of neurologically intact survival or more rapid achievement of goal temperatures.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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