Monday, 17 November 2014

Mechanical CPR is Producing Resuscitation Results Beyond Expectations

This is indeed interesting and exciting news:

"The Memphis Fire Department (MFD) and Richmond (Va.) Ambulance Authority (RAA) have a lot in common. Both services are innovators in EMS, have an enthusiastic staff that continues to implement ways to improve the care they render to their patients and both have been searching for ways to improve their resuscitation success rates.

Each also believes they’ve found that way by implementing mechanical CPR in their agency. MFD uses the Physio-Control LUCAS 2 chest compression system and RAA uses the ZOLL AutoPulse non-invasive cardiac support pump.

Though they’re using different devices, their results have been dramatic and have convinced their medical and administrative leadership that mechanical CPR offers many benefits over manual CPR, not the least of which is the ability to maintain consistent and uninterrupted CPR—a key ingredient in the successful resuscitation and discharge of patients neurologically intact from the receiving hospital.

MFD and RAA are both keenly aware that sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death among adults over the age of 40 in the United States, that approximately 424,000 people experience EMS-assessed out-of-hospital nontraumatic SCA annually (more than 1,000/day) and nine out of 10 victims currently die.

The number of people who die each year from SCA is roughly equivalent to the combined number of people who die from Alzheimer’s disease, assault with firearms, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, HIV, house fires, motor vehicle accidents, prostate cancer and suicides combined.

SCA can be best impacted by early intervention with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, advanced cardiac life support, therapeutic hypothermia and other measures of comprehensive post-resuscitation care.

When bystanders intervene by providing early, high-quality CPR and using automated external defibrillators (AEDs) before EMS arrives, four out of 10 victims survive.

This article will detail the path each service has taken to success in implementing mechanical CPR on their frontline ambulances."

You can read the full article by clicking on this link: http://www.jems.com/article/patient-care/mechanical-cpr-producing-resuscitation-r

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