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Studies offer insight into potential CPR standard changes
We need to strengthen the pre-arrival link in the chain of survival if we are to reduce the number of these deaths
By Art Hsieh
EMS1 Editorial Advisor
As the countdown continues toward the fall release of the American Heart Association Guidelines for emergency cardiac care, studies continue to provide insight into potential changes. Two such articles came across my Google Reader that I'd like to share.
The first is titled "CPR with Chest Compression Alone or with Rescue Breathing" and was conducted in both the United States (King and Thurston Counties, Wash.) and the United Kingdom (London).
The researchers wanted to find out if there were any differences in outcome in cardiac arrest based on whether bystanders were instructed to provide mouth to mouth rescue breathing, or if they were instructed to perform only chest compressions.
The results indicate that there were no differences in overall survival to discharge. There were "favorable trends" for performing compression-only CPR for patients who suffered sudden death from a cardiac cause, and there appeared to be an improvement in neurological outcome as well.
The second article looked at the prevalence of public access defibrillation (PAD) and its impact on survival. "Survival After Application of Automatic External Defibrillators Before Arrival of the Emergency Medical System" is based on research being performed with the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC), a multicenter, multiregional study group spread across the United States.
In this study, researchers looked at the impact of PAD in patients experiencing out of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). They found significant differences in survival to hospital discharge in those patients who had bystander CPR performed but did not receive pre-EMS defibrillation in public areas (9 percent), compared to those who did have an AED applied and a shock delivered (38 percent).
These studies continue to reinforce the notion that EMS must continue to participate in community-based activities that promote an immediate and appropriate bystander response to sudden cardiac arrest.
SCA continues to be our number one killer in the United States. We need to strengthen the pre-arrival link in the chain of survival if we are to reduce the number of these deaths.
