Resuscitation
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Review
Emerging pharmaceutical therapies in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and post-resuscitation syndrome.
The medication used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has by no means yielded the expected prognostic benefit. This review focuses on drugs that are currently under investigation as part of novel therapeutic strategies in CPR and post-resuscitation care. ⋯ New pharmaceutical modalities are being investigated for future use in CPR. Currently, none has been unequivocally accepted for clinical use, while only a few of them are undergoing clinical testing. This research is likely to continue, in view of the unsatisfactory results of current pharmaceutical therapies and the encouraging results of preliminary studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Effects of monthly practice on nursing students' CPR psychomotor skill performance.
The study examined the effects of brief monthly practice on nursing students' CPR psychomotor skill performance at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months compared to a control group with no practice, and of repeating the initial BLS course at 12 months. ⋯ The findings confirmed the importance of practicing CPR psychomotor skills to retain them and also revealed that short monthly practices could improve skills over baseline.
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The present study evaluates a new CPR feedback application for the iPhone (iCPR) designed to improve chest compression performance tested in a cardiac arrest simulation to evaluate performance and acceptance by healthcare professionals and lay people. ⋯ The iCPR feedback tool was able to significantly improve the performance of chest compressions in terms of the compression rate in a simulated cardiac arrest scenario. The participants also believed that iCPR helped them to achieve the correct chest compression rate and most users found this device easy to use.
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Comparative Study
Effects of timing and duration of hypothermia on survival in an experimental gerbil model of global ischaemia.
Despite the use of animal models to study post-cardiac-arrest resuscitation, the effects of hypothermia on physiological circulatory parameters are still not fully understood. In this study, using a gerbil model of global ischaemia/reperfusion, we aimed to assess the effects of hypothermia on physiological parameters and evaluated the optimal timing for the induction of hypothermia to achieve a better survival rate. ⋯ Hypothermia-induced suppression of post-ischaemic hyperperfusion and the prevention of vasoconstriction of the pial arteriole play an important role in improving the survival rate after global ischaemia/reperfusion, but the time window for induction of hypothermia remains relatively narrow.