Resuscitation
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S(p)O(2) is routinely used to assess the well-being of patients, but it is difficult to find an evidence-based description of its normal range. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) has published guidance for oxygen administration and recommends a target S(p)O(2) of 94-98% for most adult patients. These recommendations rely on consensus opinion and small studies using arterial blood gas measurements of saturation (S(a)O(2)). ⋯ Mortality (95% CI) for patients with initial S(p)O(2) values of 97%, 96% and 95% was 3.65% (3.22-4.13); 4.47% (3.99-5.00); and 5.67% (5.03-6.38), respectively. Additional analyses of S(p)O(2) values for 37,299 medical admissions aged ≥18 years provided results that were distinctly different to those upon which the current BTS guidelines based their definition of normality. Our findings suggest that the BTS should consider changing its target saturation for actively treated patients not at risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure to 96-98%.
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The presence or absence of the pupillary light reflex following cardiopulmonary resuscitation has been shown to have prognostic value. We asked whether the light reflex could be objectively measured during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in humans and whether the quality of the reflex was associated with outcome. ⋯ Portable infrared pupillary measurements can reliably demonstrate the presence and quality of the pupillary light reflex after cardiac arrest and during resuscitation. In our limited case series, the presence of the pupillary light reflexes obtained in serial measurements during resuscitation was associated with early survival and a favorable neurological status in the recovery period.
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The Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) course has been widely implemented and approximately half a million prehospital caregivers in over 50 countries have taken this course. Still, the effect on injury outcome remains to be established. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between PHTLS training of ambulance crew members and the mortality in trauma patients. ⋯ PHTLS training of ambulance crew members may be associated with reduced mortality in trauma patients, but the precision in this estimate was low due to the overall low mortality. While there may be a relative risk reduction, the predicted absolute risk reduction in this population was low.
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Post-resuscitation period is characterized by high early mortality due to post-cardiac arrest syndrome. Recent studies found that elevated red cell distribution width (RDW) is a strong predictor of mortality in critically ill patients. We investigated the prognostic significance of RDW in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) victims. ⋯ Initial RDW is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in post-resuscitation patients.