• F C Dane, K S Russell-Lindgren, D C Parish, M D Durham, and T D Brown.
• Departments of Psychology and Internal Medicine, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Mercer University, 707 Pine Street, Macon, GA 31201, USA. dane_fc@mercer.edu
• Resuscitation. 2000 Sep 1;47(1):83-7.

ContextNo data have been published on the relationship between advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) training of the individual who initiates resuscitation efforts and survival to discharge.ObjectiveTo determine whether patients whose arrests were discovered by nurses trained in ACLS had survival rates different from those discovered by nurses not trained in ACLS.DesignCohort case-comparison.SettingA 550-bed, tertiary care center in central Georgia.SubjectsPatients whose cardiopulmonary arrest was discovered by a nurse who activated the in-hospital resuscitation mechanism.Main Outcome MeasurePatient survival to discharge.ResultsInitial rhythm was strongly related to survival to discharge and individually associated with 57% of the variability in survival. Nurse's training in advanced cardiac life support was also strongly related to survival and individually associated with 29% of the variability. Combining both the variables determined 62% of the variability in survival to discharge. Patients discovered by an ACLS-trained nurse (n=88) were about four times more likely to survive (33 survivors, 38%) than were patients, discovered by a nurse without training in ACLS (n=29, three survivors, 10%).ConclusionArrest discovery by nurses trained in ACLS is significantly and dramatically associated with higher survival-to-discharge rates.

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