Resuscitation
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the city of Katowice, Poland, during a period of 1 year prior to the planned reorganization of the national emergency system. Data were collected prospectively according to a modified Utstein style. To ensure accurate data collection, a special method of reporting resuscitation events with the use of a tape-recorder was introduced. ⋯ Most of these patients had a good neurological outcome. Time to first defibrillatory shock was significantly shorter for survivors (median 7 min) compared to non-survivors (median 10 min). The most important resuscitation and patient characteristics associated with survival were VF as initial rhythm, arrest witnessed, and lay-bystander CPR.
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This study was planned to record prehospital death rates in four medical priority categories (A, B, C and D) and to evaluate if deaths in lower urgency categories C and D (target response times 20 and 90 min) could have been avoided by a faster ambulance response. ⋯ The use of medical priority dispatching was associated with very low prehospital mortality in lower urgency categories C and D. Approximately, one-third of those deaths could probably be prevented by a faster ambulance response but the price would be a three-fold increase in calls with blue lights and siren. Further studies are needed to find out if our results are applicable to other types of EMS systems.