Resuscitation
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Cerebral Performance Category (CPC), Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and discharge disposition are commonly used to determine outcomes following cardiac arrest. This study tested the association between these outcome measures. ⋯ Determination of the CPC, mRS and discharge disposition at hospital discharge is reliable from chart review. These instruments provide widely differing estimates of "good outcome". Agreement between these measures ranges from poor to fair. A more nuanced outcome measure designed for the post-cardiac arrest population is needed.
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Knowledge about the epidemiology of cardiac arrest in Europe is inadequate. ⋯ Five countries agreed to participate in an attempt to build up a common European Registry for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. These regional/national registries show a marked difference in terms of structure and complexity. A marked variation was found between countries in the number of reported resuscitation attempts, the number of patients brought to hospital alive, and the proportion that received bystander CPR. At present, we are unable to explain the reason for the variability but our first findings could be a 'wake-up-call' for building up a high quality registry that could provide answers to this and other key questions in relation to the management of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impact of essential surgical skills with an emphasis on emergency maternal, neonatal and child health training on the practice of doctors: a cluster randomised controlled trial in Pakistan.
Majority of studies on evaluation of emergency management courses have focused on outcomes such as knowledge and skills demonstrated in non-clinical or traditional testing manner. Such surrogate outcomes may not necessarily reflect vital changes in practice. The aim of this study was to determine if and to what extent, specific training in the management of life threatening emergencies resulted in an increased in compliance with established care guidelines of doctors working in the emergency departments of public sector hospitals in Pakistan. ⋯ 5-day training of ESS-EMNCH significantly increased the compliance with established care guidelines of doctors during their management of life threatening emergency episodes in the public sector hospitals in Pakistan.