Resuscitation
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Observational Study
Aetiology of in-hospital cardiac arrest on general wards.
Aetiology of in-hospital cardiac arrests (IHCAs) on general wards has not been studied. We aimed to determine the underlying causes for IHCAs by the means of autopsy records and clinical judgement of the treating consultants. Furthermore, we investigated whether aetiology and preceding vital dysfunctions are associated with long-term survival. ⋯ Cardiac aetiology underlies half of the IHCAs on general wards. Both objective and subjective antecedents are common. However, neither the cardiac aetiology nor the absence of preceding deterioration of vital signs were factors independently associated with a favourable outcome.
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Observational Study
Expanding the first link in the chain of survival - Experiences from dispatcher referral of callers to AED locations.
Early use of automated external defibrillators (AED) increases survival in cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Dispatchers play important roles in identifying OHCA, dispatching ambulances and providing callers with telephone-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Guidelines recommend that AED registries be linked to dispatch centres as tools to refer callers to nearby AED. ⋯ Despite a tool for dispatchers to refer callers to a nearby AED, referral was rare. Only a minority of the suspected OHCA cases occurred ≤100m from an AED. We identified AED accessibility and callers being alone on scene as obstacles for AED referral.
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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of esmolol treatment for patients with refractory ventricular fibrillation (RVF) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). ⋯ The findings of our study suggest that administration of esmolol may increase the rate of sustained ROSC and ICU survival among patients with RVF in OHCA. Further larger-scale, prospective studies are necessary to determine the effect of esmolol for RVF in OHCA.
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To assess the impact of a standardized rapid response system (RRS) implemented across a large health care jurisdiction on reducing serious adverse events, hospital mortality and unexpected deaths. ⋯ The BTF program was associated with continued decrease in the overall cardiac arrests rates, deaths after cardiac arrest, hospital mortality and failure to rescue. In addition, among patients in the LMDRC group, it induced a new and significant post-intervention reduction in mortality which was never reported before.
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Define the frequency and survival pattern of cardiac arrests in relation to the hospital day of event and etiology of arrest. ⋯ The etiology of cardiac arrests varies in frequency as length of hospitalization increases. Survival rates and favorable neurological outcomes are lower for in-hospital arrests occurring later in the hospitalization, even when adjusted for age, sex, and location of event. Understanding these issues may help with focusing therapies and accurate prognostication.