• Christian Vaillancourt, Manya Charette, Soha Khorsand, Erica Shligold, Chelsea Lanos, Jennifer Dale-Tam, Alexandre Tran, Loree Boyle, Sylvie Aucoin, Jerry Maniate, Hilary Meggison, Michael Hartwick, and Glenn Posner.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Electronic address: cvaillancourt@ohri.ca.
• Resuscitation. 2024 Mar 9; 198: 110172110172.

ObjectiveWe sought to evaluate the impact of a COVID-19 Code Blue policy on in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) processes of care, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quality metrics, and survival to hospital discharge.MethodsWe completed a health record review of consecutive IHCA for which resuscitation was attempted. We report Utstein outcomes and CPR quality metrics 33 months before (July,2017-March,2020) and after (April,2020-December,2022) the implementation of a COVID-19 Code Blue policy requiring all team members to don personal protective equipment including gown, gloves, mask, and eye protection for all IHCA.ResultsThere were 800 IHCA with the following characteristics (Before n = 396; After n = 404): mean age 66, 62.9% male, 81.3% witnessed, 31.3% in the emergency department, 25.6% cardiac cause, and initial shockable rhythm in 16.7%. Among all 404 patients screened for COVID-19, 25 of 288 available test results before IHCA occurred were positive. Comparing the before and after periods: there were relevant time delays (min:sec) in start of chest compressions (0:17vs.0:37;p = 0.005), team arrival (0:43vs.1:21;p = 0.002), 1st rhythm analysis (1:15vs.3:16;p < 0.0001), 1st epinephrine (3:44vs.4:34;p = 0.02), and airway insertion (8:38vs. 10:18;p = 0.02). Resuscitation duration was similar (18:28vs.19:35;p = 0.34). Exception of peri-shock pause which appeared longer (0:06vs.0:14;p = 0.07), chest compression fraction, rate and depth were identical and good. Factors independently associated with survival were age (adjOR 0.98;p < 0.001), male sex (adjOR 1.51;p = 0.048), witnessed (adjOR 2.35;p = 0.02), shockable rhythm (adjOR 3.31;p < 0.0001), hospital location (p = 0.0002), and COVID-19 period (adjOR 0.68;p = 0.052).ConclusionsThe COVID-19 Code Blue policy was associated with delayed processes of care but similarly good CPR quality. The COVID-19 period appeared associated with decreased survival.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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