By EMS1 Staff
FORT WORTH, Texas — Revival rates for cardiac cases in Fort Worth, Texas, are increasing thanks to an emphasis on compression-only CPR.
Reinforcing the concept that current, “state of the art” management of cardiac arrest revolves around high quality chest compressions, Medstar dispatchers advise callers to perform continuous compressions.
Back in early 2008, the American Heart Association said that compression-only CPR works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.
These changes in cardiac arrest management are set to be published by the organization before the end of this year.
As previously outlined by Editorial Advisor Art Hsieh, the trend extends to the ALS level, where many systems are moving away from the concept of “necessary intubation” to “necessary airway management,” which includes bag valve masks or supraglottic airways.
“The problem is when we’re off the chest for too long, we’re not circulating the blood,” Medstar Paramedic Marisa Hansen told WFAA-TV on Monday.
The station reported that, thanks to the changes, MedStar’s revival rate for cardiac cases today is nearly 19 percent — triple what it was in 2008.