Simple training programme for ambulance personnel in the management of cardiac arrest in the community.

The extended training for ambulance personnel in Nottinghamshire includes a period of training in cardiac resuscitation by defibrillation, and defibrillators are now part of the standard equipment of vehicles used on the accident and emergency service. Comparison of recent results with previous attempts in the City of Nottingham to provide a service for out of hospital cardiac arrest has shown that an elementary training course and the provision of defibrillators on emergency vehicles enables the ambulance service to save the lives of a reasonable proportion of those who suffer sudden death in the community. The extended training programme as a whole has proved acceptable to ambulance personnel and we believe that this programme could be the basis for a more widespread introduction of post basic training.     

Resuscitation of patients with cardiac arrest by ambulance staff with extended training in West Yorkshire.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the results of resuscitation of patients with cardiac arrest by ambulance staff with extended training in West Yorkshire. DESIGN--Study of all such attempts at resuscitation over 32 months, based on the standard report form for each call made by the ambulance staff and the electrocardiogram that showed the initial rhythm in each patient. SETTING--Area covered by West Yorkshire ambulance service. SUBJECTS--1196 Patients with cardiac arrests attended by 29 ambulance staff with extended training. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--Result of resuscitation. RESULTS--The initial rhythm was asystole or electromechanical dissociation in 740 patients and ventricular fibrillation in 456 patients; overall 65 patients survived to be discharged from hospital. Sixty four of the 456 patients in whom ventricular fibrillation was the initial rhythm recorded, and 46 in whom ventricular fibrillation persisted after the ambulance staff arrived, survived. Only one of the 740 patients who initially had asystole or electromechanical dissociation survived. Factors associated with a greater chance of ventricular fibrillation occurring were: age less than 71, the arrest being witnessed by a bystander, resuscitation by a bystander, the arrest occurring in a public place, and a response time by the ambulance staff of less than six minutes. For patients found in ventricular fibrillation a shorter response time was associated with improved survival but resuscitation by a bystander was not. Additional skills learnt during extended training were used for 51 of the 65 patients who survived. CONCLUSIONS--Ambulance staff with extended training can save the lives of patients with cardiac arrest due to fibrillation, though asystole and electromechanical dissociation have a poor prognosis and should perhaps receive little attention during extended training.     

Paramedics and technicians are equally successful at managing cardiac arrest outside hospital.

OBJECTIVE--To examine the effect on survival of treatment by ambulance paramedics and ambulance technicians after cardiac arrest outside hospital. DESIGN--Prospective study over two years from 1 April 1992 to 31 March 1994. SETTING--Accident and emergency department of university teaching hospital. SUBJECTS--502 consecutive adult patients with out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest of cardiac origin. INTERVENTIONS--Treatment by ambulance technicians or paramedics both equipped with semiautomatic defibrillators. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Rate of return of spontaneous circulation, hospital admission, and survival to hospital discharge. RESULTS--Rates of return of spontaneous circulation, hospital admission, and survival to hospital discharge were not significantly different for patients treated by paramedics as opposed to ambulance technicians. Paramedics spent significantly longer at the scene of the arrest than technicians (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS--The response of ambulance paramedics to patients with cardiopulmonary arrest outside hospital does not provide improved outcome when compared with ambulance technicians using basic techniques and equipped with semi-automatic defibrillators.     

Heart-Alert: emergency resuscitation training in the community

One approach to reducing avoidable mortality from coronary artery disease is to provide resuscitation capability in the community. In Manitoba this is the function of the Heart-Alert program, sponsored by the Manitoba Heart Foundation. The program is based on public and professional education dealing with the recognition and immediate care of cardiac emergencies, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The three components to the program are (a) training in basic CPR for all health care and community rescue groups; (b) training in definitive CPR for physicians, critical care nurses and advanced emergency medical technicians; and (c) education of the public to recognize the signs of impending or actual cardiac emergencies and to take appropriate action to summon quickly an emergency rescue team.The initial emphasis of the program has been on developing an organizational structure and a training network for basic CPR. A corps of instructor-trainers and instructors has been certified to implement CPR training in the medical and community target groups. Developmental problems include problems of quality control, of providing for self-sustaining and continued expansion, and of evaluation of the overall results.It is suggested that widespread implementation of CPR training is facilitated by the incorporation of CPR into existing training activities, particularly those of the medical, nursing and other health care disciplines, those of community protection agencies such as police, fire and ambulance departments, and those of volunteer groups concerned with rescue work and first-aid. If the impetus, organizational structure and instructor training are provided by a strategic agency, wide dissemination of CPR training is then possible at relatively modest cost.     

Use of the automatic external defibrillator-pacemaker by ambulance personnel: the Stockport experience.

In an attempt to reduce the number of people who die from a cardiac arrest in the Stockport area ambulances were equipped with automatic external defibrillator-pacemakers, and ambulance personnel were trained in their use. Over an 18 month period ambulance personnel attended 113 patients in cardiac arrest with these devices. One patient subsequently survived, and three patients survived for up to three days. The reasons for these poor initial results include the failure of bystanders to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a delay in calling for the ambulance, and too few defibrillators being available.     

Home Care Providers to the Rescue: A Novel First-Responder Programme

AimTo describe the implementation of a novel first-responder programme in which home care providers equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were dispatched in parallel with existing emergency medical services in the event of a suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).MethodsWe evaluated a one-year prospective study that trained home care providers in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using an AED in cases of suspected OHCA. Data were collected from cardiac arrest case files, case files from each provider dispatch and a survey among dispatched providers. The study was conducted in a rural district in Denmark.ResultsHome care providers were dispatched to 28 of the 60 OHCAs that occurred in the study period. In ten cases the providers arrived before the ambulance service and subsequently performed CPR. AED analysis was executed in three cases and shock was delivered in one case. For 26 of the 28 cases, the cardiac arrest occurred in a private home. Ninety-five per cent of the providers who had been dispatched to a cardiac arrest reported feeling prepared for managing the initial resuscitation, including use of AED.ConclusionHome care providers are suited to act as first-responders in predominantly rural and residential districts. Future follow-up will allow further evaluation of home care provider arrivals and patient survival.     

Sudden cardiac arrest on the field of play: turning tragedy into a survivable event

Sudden cardiac arrest remains the leading cause of death in exercising athletes, and recent studies have shown that it occurs more frequently than historical estimates. While out-of-hospital cardiac arrest often proves fatal, advance preparation can improve outcomes and the chance of survival. First responders to a collapsed athlete on the field of play may include team medical personnel, coaches, other athletes, officials, venue staff, emergency medical services personnel, or lay bystanders. Prompt and accurate recognition of sudden cardiac arrest, a comprehensive and rehearsed emergency action plan, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and immediate access to and use of an automated external defibrillator are each pivotal links in the chain of survival. This review summarises the components of an effective emergency action plan, highlights the critical role of automated external defibrillators, and reviews the diagnosis and management of sudden cardiac arrest on the field of play.     

Cardiac arrest: comparison of paramedic and conventional ambulance services.

A prospective study conducted in the Greater Vancouver area compared survival rates in prehospital cardiac arrest managed by an advanced life support (paramedic) service with those in cardiac arrest managed by conventional ambulance service. Management by the paramedic service was associated with higher survival rates for patients found in cardiac arrest but not for patients who suffered the arrest while the ambulance was present. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation by bystanders was associated with a significant increase in survival rates when combined with paramedic services but not when only basic life support services were available.     

Quality Improvement Report: Six year audit of cardiac arrests and medical emergency team calls in an Australian outer metropolitan teaching hospital

Problem In-hospital cardiac arrest often represents failure of optimal clinical care. The use of medical emergency teams to prevent such events is controversial. In-hospital cardiac arrests have been reduced in several single centre historical control studies, but the only randomised prospective study showed no such benefit. In our hospital an important problem was failure to call the medical emergency team or cardiac arrest team when, before in-hospital cardiac arrest, patients had fulfilled the criteria for calling the team.Design Single centre, prospective audit of cardiac arrests and data on use of the medical emergency team during 2000 to 2005.Setting 400 bed general outer suburban metropolitan teaching hospital.Strategies for change Three initiatives in the hospital to improve use of the medical emergency team: orientation programme for first year doctors, professional development course for medical registrars, and the evolving role of liaison intensive care unit nurses.Key measures for improvement Incidence of cardiac arrests.Effects of the change Incidence of cardiac arrests decreased 24% per year, from 2.4/1000 admissions in 2000 to 0.66/1000 admissions in 2005.Lessons learnt Medical emergency teams can be efficacious when supported with a multidisciplinary, multifaceted education system for clinical staff.     

The Brighton resuscitation ambulances: review of 40 consecutive survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

In three years 40 patients were resuscitated by ambulancemen after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and survived to be discharged. Twenty-six of these had had circulatory arrest before an ambulance arrived and a further three had developed ventricular fibrillation before they were moved. Thirty-two patients were alive at the time of review six months to three and a half years later. Resuscitation by ambulancemen can be effective for patients with unheralded sudden cardiac arrest as well as for patients with recent myocardial infarction. Survivors of out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation may have a favourable long-term prognosis.     

Randomised trial of a mobile coronary care unit for emergency calls.

A randomised trial was conducted to assess the value of sending a mobile coronary care unit (MCCU) to all emergency calls other than those for children or for patients injured in road-traffic accidents or brawls. Over 15 months 6223 calls for emergency ambulances were considered for the study, but a routine ambulance had to be dispatched on 2583 occasions because the MCCU was not available. A group of 1664 patients was randomly allocated to transport by the MCCU and 1676 patients to routine transport. In these groups the prehospital mortality among patients with heart attacks was 45% and 47%, and no patient survived resuscitation attempts long enough to leave hospital. During the same period general practitioners sent 190 patients with heart attacks to hospital in routine ambulances and none of them died during the interval between the call for the ambulance and arrival at hospital. Although it may be worth equipping all emergency ambulances with a defibrillator, MCCUs as at present envisaged will not appreciably affect mortality from heart attacks.     

坦克作业对乘员肾脏功能的影响

目的：观察坦克作业对乘员肾脏功能的影响。方法：在我军某坦克部队随机选取152名坦克乘员为观察组,在同一部队选取非坦克作业战士37名为对照组。留取24h尿和晨尿,检测尿中α1-微球蛋白（α1-MG）、β2-微球蛋白（β2-MG）、IgG、N-乙酰-β-葡萄糖苷酶（NAG）和尿微量白蛋白（UAE）排泄率。结果：与对照组比较,观察组尿α1-．MG、β2-MG、尿NAG、尿UAE均明显升高,且平均值均超过临床检验正常值,尿IgG无明显升高。其中从事坦克作业50摩托小时以上的坦克乘员尿中β2-MG、NAG、UAE均高于对照组（P〈0．05）,从事坦克作业51～100摩托小时的尿中α1-MG虽有升高,但未有统计学差异且平均值在正常范围内,从事坦克作业大于301摩托小时的坦克乘员尿中α1-MG显著高于对照组。脱离坦克作业3年后乘员尿中β2-MG、NAG、UAE降低至正常水平,但大于10年者尿中β2-MG再度出现升高,与6—10年组比较有显著差异（P〈0．05）。脱离坦克作业后坦克乘员尿中α1-MG虽有下降,但始终未降至正常水平。结论：坦克作业对乘员肾脏功能有一定影响,脱离坦克作业后乘员肾功能可得到较好的恢复,但远期仍遗留一定程度的肾小管重吸收功能障碍。     

Importance of patient selection in evaluating a cardiac ambulance service.

All patients brought to hospital by a special cardiac ambulance were followed up and compared with patients carried by routine ambulances to assess the effectiveness of a cardiac ambulance service. The overall mortality of patients with heart attacks was 51% among those carried by an ordinary ambulance and 40% among those carried by the cardiac ambulance. The apparently low mortality in the latter group was balanced, however, by a high mortality (68%) among patients carried by ordinary ambulances when the cardiac ambulance was available but not used; these patients tended to have a short duration of symptoms and heart attacks away from home, and their ambulance was more often called by a member of the public than a general practitioner. It seems therefore that low-risk cases were inadvertently selected for transport by the cardiac ambulance; such unintentional selection makes it difficult to evaluate a cardiac ambulance service.     

Mobile Coronary Care Provided by Ambulance Personnel

Mobile coronary care has been provided in Brighton by ambulance personnel without immediate help from physicians or nurses. No additional vehicles or staff were required. The capital cost of the experiment was therefore small and additional running costs were negligible. The results have been monitored by retrospective analysis of electrocardiograms recorded in the ambulance and stored on magnetic tape. In the first 12 months of operation to July 1972, 1,082 patients with suspected cardiac emergencies were carried in two vehicles. Subsequent analysis showed that 76% of these patients had acute symptoms from ischaemic heart disease or had circulatory arrest. Eighty-six per cent. of arrhythmias were diagnosed correctly by the ambulance attendants. Though only eight cases of primary ventricular fibrillation occurred during or shortly before transit all were successfully reversed, and five of these patients subsequently left hospital alive. Other benefits of the scheme have included an appreciable reduction in the median delay between onset of presenting symptoms in patients with acute myocardial ischaemia and their admission to hospital.     

Evaluation of hospital-based cardiac resuscitation, 1973-77

The resuscitation experience of a large teaching hospital during 1973-77 was reviewed. Resuscitation was attempted on 2091 victims of cardiac arrest; 261 patients (12.5%) survived to be discharged from hospital.Coronary heart disease caused about one half of all the cardiac arrests, but was associated with a better survival rate (14.4%) than the other causes. Cardiac arrest following multiple trauma had the worst prognosis; only 3% of the patients survived to be discharged from hospital. However, the main factor influencing outcome was the site of arrest. The survival rates of patients on whom resuscitation was initiated in the emergency room or an intensive care area were triple and double the rate for patients in hospital wards, although one third of all the cardiac arrests induced by a coronary event and occurring in hospital were on the wards. Patients whose arrest occurred outside hospital, where only basic life support was available, had a survival rate of just 6.3%, whereas those whose arrest occurred in the emergency room had a survival rate of 31.9%. Since these two patient groups were similar in terms of age and diagnosis, we believe that the potential survival rate for victims of cardiac arrest outside of hospital that are optimally treated is close to 30%.These data suggest that increased survival from cardiac arrest can be expected with extension of the resuscitation services both inside and outside of hospital, but particularly with increased emphasis on emergency cardiac care outside of hospital.     

Canadian ground ambulance services: provincial funding and standards for equipment and training.

There is an increasing demand for improved, up-to-date training and equipment for ground ambulance services across Canada. This paper presents the results of a survey of ambulance operations and their funding by the provinces, as well as a comparison of provincial legislation and recommendations on standards for equipment and the training of ambulance personnel. The training standards were found to be very diverse, and the legislated or recommended equipment standards did not meet those of the American College of Surgeons committee on trauma (ACSCT). The cost of ambulance services per capita and the cost to the user of an average 43-km run varied widely between the provinces. There was no correlation between the second cost and how well the province met the ACSCT''s equipment standards.     

Physical training in patients with chronic heart failure: An elaboration of the statements from the Committee on Cardiac Rehabilitation of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology and the Netherlands Heart Foundation and review of studies on physical training in chronic heart failure

Chronic heart failure (CHF) can be defined as a complex of symptoms and signs caused by cardiac dysfunction. Dyspnoea on exertion, fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance and fluid retention are hallmarks of the syndrome.Reduced peripheral blood flow, endothelial dysfunction, alterations in skeletal muscle structure and function, an increased activity of the muscle ergoreflex, as well as autonomic and neurohormonal activation reduce exercise performance, ultimately leading to physical deconditioning in CHF patients.The beneficial effects of physical training for CHF patients are increasingly acknowledged. Based on European and American guidelines on physical training in CHF, results from controlled randomised trials (summarised in this paper) and expert opinions, the Dutch Committee on Cardiac Rehabilitation has formulated statements on physical training in CHF.In addition, recommendations implementing physical training programmes in CHF patients are given. The selection criteria, contraindications and methods, and duration of a physical training programme in heart failure are discussed. Concomitant with the training programme, a multidisciplinary intervention programme is needed to stimulate patients to adopt and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.     

Early emergency care study: the potential and benefits of advanced prehospital care.

Of 26358 patients taken by ambulance to the accident and emergency departments of two large hospitals, 1185 were admitted to resuscitation areas. The scope for ambulance staff to employ a range of advanced techniques at the scene of incidents was assessed by using information relating to the condition of patients when they were picked up by the ambulance and on admission, time in transit, details from hospital records, and outcome at three months. For non-survivors further assessment was made of the benefit, in terms of survival, which might have accrued had advanced techniques been used. The results of the assessment of benefit were compared with estimates of benefit from other studies. In cases of cardiopulmonary arrest the potential to save lives was less optimistic than earlier estimates, and in cases of trauma the potential to save lives was negligible.     

Acute cardiovascular failure and its treatment--value of defibrillation in preclinical management]

Ventricular fibrillation is the most common cause of cardiac arrest. The only scientifically proved therapy that guarantees a long time survival is the early electrical defibrillation. As early as 200 years ago electricity was employed in trying to regain circulation in cases of unexpected death. In the field of emergency medicine almost all rescue services are equipped with defibrillators nowadays and the personnel is trained in using them. Since the application of electricity on the myocardium can lead to damage, there are devices with a varied defibrillation pulse available since recently. The advantage of the biphasic defibrillation is a less harmful impact on the myocardium at lower shock intensity. A further novelty which enables the application by groups other than the rescue services, is the automatic external defibrillator (AED). Extending the availability of defibrillators can contribute to an increase in the presently low success rates of resuscitation.