Resuscitation
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Survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) varies between regions, but the contribution of different factors to this variability is unknown. This study examined whether survival to hospital discharge was related to receiving hospital characteristics, including bed number, capability of performing cardiac catheterization and hospital volume of OOHCA cases. ⋯ Some subsets of hospitals displayed higher survival and shorter LOS for OOHCA subjects but there was no independent association between hospital characteristics and outcome.
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Comparative Study
Does an advanced life support course give non-anaesthetists adequate skills to manage an airway?
Traditionally, anaesthetists have provided airway management skills on resuscitation teams. Because advanced life support (ALS) courses teach practical airway management, some UK hospitals have dropped anaesthetists from cardiac arrest teams. Does the ALS course give non-anaesthetists adequate skills to manage an airway during a cardiac arrest? ⋯ The airway component of an ALS course alone does not give adequate practical skills for non-anaesthetists to manage an airway in an anaesthetised patient. Airway management at a cardiac arrest is unlikely to be any better.
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National leaders have suggested that patients with an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) may benefit from transport to specialized hospitals. We sought to assess the survival of OOHCA patients by transport distance and hospital proximity. ⋯ Survival to discharge was higher in OOHCA patients taken to hospitals located further than the closest hospital while transport distance was not associated with survival. This suggests that longer transport distance/time might not adversely affect outcome. Further studies are needed to inform policy decisions regarding best destination post-cardiac arrest.
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Comparative Study
Pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Korea: A nationwide population-based study.
Our objective was to describe the incidence and demographics of pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Korea. ⋯ Incidence and hospital outcomes in pediatric OHCA in Korea were comparable to other population-based nationwide reports.
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Comparative Study
A randomized comparison of cardiocerebral and cardiopulmonary resuscitation using a swine model of prolonged ventricular fibrillation.
Cardiocerebral resuscitation (CCR) is reportedly superior to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for primary cardiac arrest in the prehospital setting. This study was done using a swine model of prolonged ventricular fibrillation (VF) to quantify the effect of the emergency medical services component of CCR with intraosseous access (CCR-IO) compared with standard CPR with intravenous access (CPR-IV) as it is typically performed during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) resuscitation in a prospective randomized fashion. ⋯ In this swine model of witnessed VF arrest with no bystander-initiated resuscitation, CCR-IO resulted in substantial improvement in all three outcomes relative to typical emergency medical services provided CPR-IV.