By Rafael Sanchez
The Indy Channel
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Officials with Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services are using a database to help track heart attacks.
The city’s EMS system has developed a registry known as IndyCares.
IndyCares has been tracking cardiac incidents for the past three years. Officials use the information to determine what impact a patient’s treatment had on their final outcome.
Another key component of the IndyCares program is working with the city’s major hospitals.
The team’s monthly review of the ongoing data has led to changes in their response.
“We actually will stay on scene up to 30 minutes to work on someone in cardiac arrest rather than throw them in the back of the ambulance, bounce around and do ineffective treatment. We stay on scene and make sure we can get them back,” IEMS Medical Director Dr. Dan O’Donnell said.
IEMS officials say they use the data collected to target areas where they will provide CPR training and heart-healthy forums.
The data is part of a national database. Nationally there is a 14 to 27 percent rate that someone who undergoes cardiac arrest will regain a pulse. The Indianapolis rate is 38 to 43 percent.
Cardiac arrests vary in outcomes from mild to brain damage to death. National numbers show about 10 percent of victims walk out freely from the hospital, while in Indianapolis, the numbers range from 13 to 19 percent.
In Indianapolis, the person most likely to go into cardiac arrest is a 64-year-old man. EMS responds to most of the incidents during the winter months.
Republished with permission from The Indy Channel