Annals of emergency medicine
-
Observational Study
Statewide Regionalization of Postarrest Care for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Association With Survival and Neurologic Outcome.
For out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, authoritative, evidence-based recommendations have been made for regionalization of postarrest care. However, system-wide implementation of these guidelines has not been evaluated. Our hypothesis is that statewide regionalization of postarrest interventions, combined with emergency medical services (EMS) triage bypass, is associated with improved survival and neurologic outcome. ⋯ Implementation of a statewide system of cardiac receiving centers and EMS bypass was independently associated with increased overall survival and favorable neurologic outcome. In addition, these outcomes improved among patients with witnessed shockable rhythms.
-
Editorial Comment
Improving Postarrest Care Through Evidence-Based Common Sense.