Resuscitation
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To improve our neonatal resuscitations we review video recordings of actual high-risk deliveries as an ongoing quality review process. In order to help identify and review errors that occurred during resuscitation we educated our resuscitation teams using crew resource management and in March 2009 developed a checklist to be used for potentially high-risk resuscitations. ⋯ The use of checklists during neonatal resuscitation was helpful in improving overall communication, and allowed for rapid identification of issues that need to be addressed by institutional leaders. There needs to be further evaluation of the utility and benefit of checklists for neonatal resuscitation. Based on our past and present experience we encourage the use of checklists for neonatal resuscitation teams.
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Reliable, non-invasive detection of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) with minimal interruptions to chest compressions would be valuable for high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We investigated the potential of photoplethysmography (PPG) to detect the presence of a spontaneous pulse during automated CPR in an animal study. ⋯ These results demonstrate the potential of PPG as a non-invasive means to detect pulse presence or absence, as well as pulse rate during CPR.
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Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) elicits ischaemia/reperfusion injury and myocardial dysfunction. The combination of adenosine and lidocaine (AL, adenocaine) has been shown to (1) inhibit neutrophil inflammatory activation and (2) improve left ventricular function after ischaemia. We hypothesized that resuscitation with adenocaine during early moments of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attenuates leucocyte oxidant generation and myocardial dysfunction. ⋯ Infusion of adenocaine during early resuscitation from CA significantly improved early post-resuscitation cardiac function and attenuated leucocyte superoxide anion generation, without a change in post-ROSC neurological function. (IACUC protocol number 023-2009).