LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Fire Department report disclosed this week investigates delays in getting 911 callers to start CPR on cardiac arrest victims.
The investigation raised concerns over the lengthy script of questions dispatchers must ask before giving CPR instructions, at which point many patients can start going into brain death, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Maybe we need to condense and compress and be more efficient in how the questions are asked,” City Councilwoman Jan Perry said.
Fire Commissioner Andrew Friedman agreed, saying that if it takes up to four and half minutes to give CPR instructions, “methodology has to be changed and improved.”
The study revealed that chest compressions were started in only 51 of the 166 cardiac arrest calls manned by dispatchers in October 2011.
In calls where CPR was begun, it took dispatchers an average of four minutes and 12 seconds to give instructions to start, the Times said. When a patient is suffering from cardiac arrest, irreversible brain damage can start in about four minutes.
Officials say they are considering new guidelines that will allow dispatchers to give CPR instructions sooner.
LAFD’s medical director, Dr. Marc Eckstein, said the dispatching system is “fundamentally sound” and working as fast as possible to speed up cardiac arrest responses. The 911 tapes included in the report showing the delays are “extreme examples” and do not accurately reflect overall performance, he said.
“The fact that we are being so self-critical is a great example of our quality improvement working,” Dr. Eckstein said.