Resuscitation
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Knowledge is insufficient of the long-term benefit of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) after out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). ⋯ Among survivors of OHCA caused by VT/VF who had ICD during hospitalization only 2% died during the subsequent 2 years. The use of ICDs was low but increasing. Factors of importance for mortality were cerebral function at the time of discharge, age, history of heart failure and myocardial infarction and no coronary angiography during hospitalization.
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Smartphones are widely used by physicians, but their effectiveness in improving teaching of clinical skills is not known. The aim of this study was to determine if pre procedural use of a smartphone neonatal intubation instructional application (NeoTube) improves trainee knowledge and enhances procedural skills performance in newborn intubation. ⋯ Bedside use of smartphones can enhance both knowledge of newborn intubation and improves procedural performance, including reducing the time to successfully intubate. Smartphones may have a useful role in bringing procedural skills training closer to the bedside.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of shock-first strategy and cardiopulmonary resuscitation-first strategy in a porcine model of prolonged cardiac arrest.
The choice of a shock-first or a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-first strategy in the treatment of prolonged cardiac arrest (CA) is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of these strategies on oxygen metabolism and resuscitation outcomes in a porcine model of 8min CA. ⋯ In a porcine model of prolonged CA, the choice of a shock-first or CPR-first strategy did not affect the rate of ROSC and 24h survival, but the shock-first strategy might result in better hemodynamic status and better oxygen metabolism than the CPR-first strategy at the first 6h after ROSC.
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Twitter has over 500 million subscribers but little is known about how it is used to communicate health information. We sought to characterize how Twitter users seek and share information related to cardiac arrest, a time-sensitive cardiovascular condition where initial treatment often relies on public knowledge and response. ⋯ Despite a large volume of tweets, Twitter can be filtered to identify public knowledge and information seeking and sharing about cardiac arrest. To better engage via social media, healthcare providers can distil tweets by user, content, temporal trends, and message dissemination. Further understanding of information shared by the public in this forum could suggest new approaches for improving resuscitation related education.
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Analysis of in-hospital mortality after serious adverse events (SAE's) in our hospital showed the need for more frequent observation in medical and surgical wards. We hypothesized that the incidence of SAE's could be decreased by introducing a standard nurse observation protocol. ⋯ The intervention had a positive impact on the observation frequency. MEWS had a predictive value for SAE's in patients after ICU discharge. The drop in SAE's was substantial but did not reach statistical significance.