CPR-Proficient High School Graduates Are the Next Generation of Lifesaving Bystanders

Doubling down on a crucial piece of the cardiac arrest resuscitation puzzle As much as EMS systems focus on delivering rapid, high-quality resuscitation, cardiac arrest survival continues to be a long shot in most communities. More than 350,000 people a year experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital and despite enormous advances in resuscitation science, on average only 12% survive.1 A major factor responsible for the overall poor survival rate is the fact that most cardiac arrest victims still don't receive bystander CPR. This key bystander intervention, if performed immediately, can double or even triple a person's chance of survival. The longer it takes between the time someone collapses and the initiation of CPR-and subsequent arrival of trained emergency medical responders-the lower the odds of survival. Trained emergency responders are already focused on achieving the fastest response possible and doing high-performance CPR, but it's time to double down on another crucial piece of the survival puzzle: those critical minutes before EMS arrive on scene. Because 70% of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the home,2 the focus must be on transforming bystanders (e.g., friends or relatives who witness the event) into lifesaving lay rescuers. To increase survival rates, the probability that bystanders will step up and take immediate action must be dramatically increased. This means many more people in communities must be able and willing to imm...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news