Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) Studies Dig Deep into the Science of Resuscitation

It's been 50 years since the famous white paper "Accidental death and disability: The neglected disease of modern society" was prepared and released by the Committee on Trauma and Committee on Shock of the National Research Council of the United States National Academies of Sciences. This watershed document opened the eyes of the American public to the 52 million accidental injuries that killed 400,000 Americans, referred as an "epidemic of modern society," uncovered serious deficiencies in the nation's emergency response system and called for corrective measures to stem what it referred to as "the leading cause of death in the first half of life's span." The nation awakened and Congress and the medical community began to take action to correct the response and care deficiencies that existed, including the funding of training and equipment and working to establish integrated networks of trauma centers, medical helicopters and improved dispatch and communications capabilities. It all made a significant impact on the horrific death toll that existed at the time. So, what most often kills Americans today, 50 years later? Trauma? Cancer? Sepsis? Today, no other major disease state still kills as many adults in the U.S. as sudden cardiac arrest.1 Remarkably, it's been more than 50 years since manual closed chest compressions paired with artificial ventilations were first described. Despite these five decades the overall survival rate, specifically neu...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news