Alameda County EMS Improves Cardiac Arrest Survival

This article addresses those changes and the resulting improvement in cardiac arrest resuscitation. The endorsed system of care for OHCA by ALCO EMS has been modeled after that of the decade-old and nationally recognized Take Heart America.1 All of the changes and system design are based upon recommended evidence-driven treatment strategies, techniques and devices that are consistent with the 2005, 2010 and 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines.2–4 These have included measures to improve the rate of bystander CPR through CPR-7, a community outreach education program using seventh graders and those they train; use of dispatch-assisted CPR; and the implementation of PulsePoint, a method of crowdsourcing citizen CPR. We’ve improved prehospital cardiac arrest treatments from 2005 to the present with annual training on pit-crew CPR, advanced airway placement with the availability of a supraglottic backup airway, intraosseous access and the use of mechanical chest compression devices. The training includes a renewed focus on high-quality CPR that emphasizes the correct compression rate and depth, minimal interruptions, full recoil of the chest wall, and proper use of the impedance threshold device (ITD), which was introduced systemwide in 2009 for both bag-valve mask ventilation as well as with any advanced airway.
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation Top Story Exclusive Articles Patient Care Heart of America Source Type: news