American heart journal
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American heart journal · Oct 2012
Regionalization of post-cardiac arrest care: implementation of a cardiac resuscitation center.
Guidelines recommend standardized treatment of post-cardiac arrest patients to improve outcomes. However, the infrastructure, resources, and personnel required to meet the complex needs of cardiac arrest victims remain a barrier to care. Given that regionalization of time-dependent high-acuity illness is an emerging paradigm, the aim of the present study was to develop and implement a regionalized approach to post-cardiac arrest care. ⋯ Development of a regionalized approach to post-cardiac arrest care using previously established referral relationships is feasible, and implementation of such an approach was clinically effective in our region.
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American heart journal · Oct 2012
Controlled Clinical TrialImpact of access site selection and operator expertise on radiation exposure; a controlled prospective study.
Published data relating to arterial access site selection and radiation exposure during coronary procedures suggest radial access may lead to increased radiation exposure, but this is based on poorly controlled studies. We sought to measure radiation exposure to patients and operators during elective coronary angiography (CA) according to access site, with other procedure related variables controlled for. We also investigated the specific effect of operator expertise in relation to radiation exposure. ⋯ The use of TR access has no adverse effect on radiation exposure or FT for diagnostic CA, but does allow for quicker ambulation compared to TF access. The magnitude of radiation exposure is related to operator expertise for both access sites. The results of previous studies reflect the effect of uncontrolled patient and operator variables and not access site selection.