OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of a medical emergency team (MET) on the incidence of unexpected cardiac arrest and death. DESIGN Comparison of retrospective data (pre-MET) before introduction of MET with prospective data after introduction of MET system (post-MET). SETTING Tertiary care pediatric hospital. PATIENTS A total of 104,780 admissions during a 41-month period pre-MET; 138,424...

BACKGROUND Although the value of clinical registries has been well recognized in developed countries, their use for measuring the quality of emergency medical service care remains relatively unknown. We report the methodology and findings of a statewide emergency medical service surveillance initiative, which is used to measure the quality of systems of care for patients with out-of-hospital ca...

AIMS To determine out-of-hospital cardiac arrest mortality in the province of Alicante (Spain) and its associated factors. METHODS Cross-sectional observational study of all patients who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) (n = 422) in the province of Alicante in 2013. To determine associated factors, a binary logistic regression model was cons...

AIM To relate the outcome of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to whether medication with adrenaline (epinephrine) was given and whether patients were intubated. PATIENTS A national survey in Sweden between 1990-1995 among patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and in whom resuscitation was attempted. Sixty per cent of ambulance organisations in Sweden participated. DESIGN Prospecti...

BACKGROUND Accurate estimation of favorable neurological survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest could provide critical information for physicians, patients, and families. METHODS Within the Get With the Guidelines-Resuscitation registry, we identified 42,957 patients from 551 hospitals admitted between January 2000 and October 2009 who were successfully resuscitated from an in-hospital car...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest constitute an increasing patient population in cardiac intensive care units. Our aim was to characterize these patients and determine their vital and functional prognosis in accordance with the latest evidence. METHODS A multicenter, prospective register was constructed with information from patients admitted to 5 cardiac...

1. The Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest Study Group. Mild therapeutic hypothermia to improve the neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest. N Engl J Med 2002;346:549 –56. 2. Bernard SA, Gray TW, Buist MD, et al. Treatment of comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with induced hypothermia. N Engl J Med 2002;346:557– 63. 3. Boddicker KA, Zhang Y, Zimmerman MB, Davies LR, Kerber RE. Hy...

INTRODUCTION Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has recently shown encouraging results in the resuscitation of in-hospital (IH) refractory cardiac arrest. We assessed the use of ECLS following out-of-hospital (OH) refractory cardiac arrest. METHODS We evaluated 51 consecutive patients who experienced witnessed OH refractory cardiac arrest and received automated chest compression and ECLS upon...

BACKGROUND Cardiac arrest affects 30-35, 000 hospitalised patients in the UK every year. For these patients to be given the best chance of survival, high quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) must be delivered, however the quality of CPR in real-life is often suboptimal. CPR feedback devices have been shown to improve CPR quality in the pre-hospital setting and post-event debriefing can i...

BACKGROUND Drug overdose causes approximately 183,000 deaths worldwide annually and 50,000 deaths in Canada and the United States combined. Drug-related deaths are concentrated among young people, leading to a substantial burden of disease and loss of potential life years. Understanding the epidemiology, patterns of care, and prognosis of drug-related prehospital emergencies may lead to improve...