15 The importance of staying on the call: recognition of cardiac arrest after initial dispatch

Conclusion Nearly one third of call-taker recognition of OHCA occurs after initial dispatch. The higher survival probability of patients recognised by secondary recognition is consistent with those patients arresting more recently relative to the timing of the call. For many cases of OHCA, the call-taker’s ability to stay on the call and remain alert to the possibility of OHCA may strengthen the chain of survival. Conflict of interest A. Whiteside and D. Brink receive full salary support, and P. Bailey, M. Inoue and J. Finn receive partial salary support from St John Ambulance. Funding Funding for this research was received from an Australian NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Centre) Partnership Project: #1076949 ‘Improving ambulance dispatch to time-critical emergencies’. J. Finn. and J. Bray receive partial salary support from the NHMRC ‘Aus-ROC’ Centre for Research Excellence #1029983. J. Bray receives salary support from an NHMRC/NHF (National Heart Foundation) Early Career Fellowship.
Source: BMJ Open - Category: General Medicine Authors: Source Type: research