Resuscitation
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A retrospective 6-month audit of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Hong Kong following the introduction of automatic external defibrillators is presented. During the 6-month period from 1 July 1995 to 31 December 1995, resuscitation was attempted on 754 patients. Of the 744 patients with cardiac arrest whose records were available, 53.6% had a witnessed arrest. ⋯ The survival rate of 1.6% is low by world standards. To improve the survival rates of people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the arrest-to-call interval must be reduced and the frequency of bystander CPR assistance increased. Once these changes are in place, a beneficial effect from the use of pre-hospital defibrillation might be seen.
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To determine if the appointment of a Resuscitation Training Officer improves survival to discharge from in-hospital ventricular fibrillation/pulseless ventricular tachycardia cardiac arrest. ⋯ Appointment of a Resuscitation Training Officer is associated with improved survival to discharge in ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia in-hospital cardiac arrest.