Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · May 2010
ReviewOptimizing survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Cardiac arrest is an important public health problem and often occurs in the out-of-hospital setting in patients without a prior history of heart disease. Very few communities or emergency medical service (EMS) systems report survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ⋯ Important current initiatives to improve cardiac arrest survival include hands-only CPR delivered by laypersons prior to the arrival of EMS, dispatcher-assisted CPR, and implementation of hospital-based therapeutic hypothermia protocols to improve postresuscitation care. Optimizing cardiac arrest survival requires a team effort between EMS directors, emergency physicians, cardiologists, hospital leadership, and the public.