Resuscitation
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Defibrillation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation first for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests found by paramedics to be in ventricular fibrillation? A randomised control trial.
To determine whether in patients with an ambulance response time of >5min who were in VF cardiac arrest, 3min of CPR before the first defibrillation was more effective than immediate defibrillation in improving survival to hospital discharge. ⋯ For patient in out-of-hospital VF cardiac arrest we found no evidence to support the use of 3min of CPR before the first defibrillation over the accepted practice of immediate defibrillation.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
The Medical Emergency Team System and not-for-resuscitation orders: results from the MERIT study.
To examine NFR orders in relation to adverse events and emergency team calls in hospitals with or without a Medical Emergency Team (MET) system during the MERIT study. ⋯ In a cohort of Australian hospitals, most deaths occurred in patients with a previously documented NFR order but NFR orders were uncommon before cardiac arrest calls or unplanned ICU admissions. During the conduct of a cluster randomised controlled trial, more NFR orders were issued by emergency teams in those hospitals that implemented a MET system than in control hospitals. MET allocation, teaching hospital status, number of hospital beds and metropolitan location could only explain less than 50% of variance in NFR orders.