European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Multicenter Study
Adherence to resuscitation guidelines during prehospital care of cardiac arrest patients.
The impact of prehospital care after the return of spontaneous circulation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients is not known. This study describes adherence to the resuscitation guidelines, factors associated with poor adherence and possible impact of prehospital postresuscitation care on the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ⋯ Less than 50% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients received prehospital postresuscitation care compatible with the current guidelines. Markers of poor prognosis were associated with unsatisfactory care, which in turn was more frequent among the patients who did not survive to hospital discharge. The importance of the guidelines should be highlighted in the future.