Emergency Cardiac Care News Digest is an assortment of current events and news related to emergency cardiac care and resuscitation. Produced by Code One Training Solutions, Emergency Cardiac Care News Digest is published every Friday throughout the year.
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
Maya Angelou
Flipped Classroom: Improved team performance during resuscitation training through interactive pre-course content – a cluster-randomised controlled study
Resuscitation is a team effort, and it is increasingly acknowledged that team cooperation requires training. Staff shortages in many healthcare systems worldwide, as well as recent pandemic restrictions, limit opportunities for collaborative team training. To address this challenge, a learner-centred approach known as flipped learning has been successfully implemented. This model comprises self-directed, asynchronous pre-course learning, followed by knowledge application and skill training during in-class sessions. The existing evidence supports the effectiveness of this approach for the acquisition of cognitive skills, but it is uncertain whether the flipped classroom model is suitable for the acquisition of team skills. The objective of this study was to determine if a flipped classroom approach, with an online workshop prior to an instructor-led course could improve team performance and key resuscitation variables during classroom training.
Learn more: https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-024-05438-7
Oxfordshire resuscitation expert warns of gaps in CPR knowledge
A new report has found that CPR training disparities based on deprivation, a person’s ethnicity, or cultural background are putting thousands of lives at risk.
Resuscitation expert Adam Benson-Clarke from Oxfordshire has highlighted the inequalities in the practice of saving someone’s life.
This new report by the Resuscitation Council UK has found that defibs are lacking in areas where people from ethnic minority backgrounds live and that many didn’t know where their nearest one was.
Early defibrillation can more than double survival rates, yet defibs are lacking in areas where people from ethnic minority backgrounds live with over half of these areas having no defibs at all.
That number is significantly lower in areas where predominantly white British people live.
Podcast – Transcutaneous Pacing & False Capture
In this episode, panelists discuss a recent paper on false electrical capture and pre-hospital transcutaneous pacing by paramedics. The guests, Tom Boutilet, Josh Kimbrell, and Judah Kreinbrook, discuss their research findings and the implications for paramedics.
The panelists also discuss the difficulty of accurately assessing mechanical capture and the potential for false electrical capture. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the transfer of pacing from one device to another and the importance of verifying capture during the process.
Watch it here: https://youtu.be/-1pSM7vL6UY?si=QAV4GKwKBDHgVpK8
Cardiac arrest recoveries are great stories, but they’re rare. We can fix that | Expert Opinion
By Raina Merchant, a professor of Emergency Medicine at Penn Medicine.
As an emergency medicine doctor, low rates of CPR put us at a significant disadvantage when we try to save someone’s life. I’ve been doing this job for more than 18 years, and the number of patients who survive cardiac arrest has remained stubbornly low for decades, even longer than my time as a physician.
However, I think we can actually make a change in those numbers, and a leading scientific group within the American Heart Association thinks it can be done by 2030. Simply, we need more people ready and willing to save a life, like those who stepped in quickly for Smith and Hamlin.
Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/health/cpr-saves-lives-and-more-people-need-to-learn-it-20240426.html
Australian regions with high cardiac arrest rates and low CPR: study
Australia has about 26,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually, with only 12% of patients treated by ambulance surviving to hospital discharge and/or 30 days.
Now, a new study led by Monash University has identified Australian regions with high incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and low rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Funded by the Heart Foundation and conducted by the Australian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (Aus-ROC), the study is prompting calls for targeted education campaigns to improve awareness about avoiding and treating heart issues.
Duke University student-athletes join the Nation of Lifesavers
DURHAM, N.C., April 25, 2024 — Throughout the week of April 15, members of the Duke University men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in an American Heart Association Hands-Only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training to learn the correct rate and depth of CPR compressions to be confident and capable when faced with a cardiac emergency. Learning Hands-Only CPR is the skill needed to join the Association’s Nation of Lifesavers™ movement, which intends to double survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest by 2030. According to American Heart Association data, 9 out of every 10 of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die, in part because they do not receive immediate CPR more than half of the time. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.
Source: https://newsroom.heart.org/news/duke-university-student-athletes-join-the-nation-of-lifesavers
Project Heart ReStart gives 50 AEDs to police departments
CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Project Heart ReStart donated 50 AEDs to local police departments in an effort to save victims of cardiac arrests and heart attacks.
An AED – automated external defibrillator – along with CPR improves a heart attack victim’s survival by 50 to 75 percent.
The Cincinnati Police Department received 26 units on Wednesday. Mark Johnston, the Christ Hospital EMS Coordinator, said the devices are remarkable life savers. He said he hopes to have 50 AEDs in police cruisers over the next two years in other Hamilton County departments.
“Our goal is that every department in Hamilton County, one, two, or three officers on every shift are going to have these with them 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Johnston said.
Video story: https://www.fox19.com/2024/04/25/project-heart-restart-gives-50-aeds-police-departments/
Weis is in the food business, but safety comes first
NOTTINGHAM, Md. — Weis Markets is thinking about its customers beyond their wallets.
Each location in Maryland will now have automated external defibrillators (AEDS).
The Weis on Belair Road in Nottingham was the first store in line to get this life-protecting equipment.
These tools equip anyone to save a person experiencing cardiac arrest. Giving users audio and visual prompts to ensure proper use.
Baltimore County Fire was on site, giving free AED and CPR training to shoppers.
Even though Weis is leading the way, they won’t be alone, by January 1, 2025, all grocery stores in Maryland will be required to have AEDs.
Watch the story here: https://www.wmar2news.com/local/weis-is-in-the-food-business-but-safety-comes-first
Fast-acting faculty member saves life with CPR
U.S. Air Force Capt. Rob Butler was hanging out with faculty members in the Military Sciences Building when they were startled by a group of students.
“We were just talking shop in the office, and they came rushing in asking if any of us had medical training,” said Butler, an assistant professor of aerospace studies at Colorado State University.
Outside of their Air Force ROTC office, Butler and his colleagues found a dozen students hovering over an unresponsive person on the ground. The faculty members quickly checked the vitals, finding a breath and a pulse. But after a minute of monitoring, the breathing stopped.
“I was not getting any kind of pulse,” Butler said, “and so we began chest compressions. We had one of the instructors get the students out of the way and had a couple people call 911.”
As they were about to start the automated external defibrillator device — known more commonly as an AED — they heard a faint cough. An ambulance arrived on scene, and the person was taken to the hospital and treated.
Source: https://source.colostate.edu/fast-acting-faculty-member-saves-life-with-cpr/
Calls for learner drivers to take another test before getting their licence – to help save lives
Nine out of 10 people who have a cardiac arrest out of hospital die within a month
NEW drivers should have to learn CPR to get their licence, say campaigners.
Resuscitation Council UK said mandating training on chest compressions and defibrillators would boost Britain’s cardiac arrest survival rate.
More than a dozen other countries, including Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic require drivers to do first aid training before they are let loose on the roads.
James Cant, chief of RCUK, said: “Evidence shows that increasing CPR knowledge and training in the community is an effective way to give people everywhere an equal chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.”
Entire story: https://www.the-sun.com/health/11183967/campaign-new-drivers-learn-cpr-licence/
Tampa General Hospital, Manatee County and ArcherFRS introduce program to deliver emergency response equipment via drone delivery
Set to launch May 1, the program aims to improve response times for health-related emergencies in the Manatee County coverage area.
The program will deploy drones carrying automated external defibrillators (AEDs), naloxone nasal spray and tourniquets, providing quick access to lifesaving equipment for emergency situations. The goal is to enhance survival rates for cardiac arrests, opioid overdoses and trauma-related injuries.
Source: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southeast/florida-hospital-drones-equipment-911-callers/
Muscatine, IA deploying 24/7 access AEDs in parks.
“The pursuit of these AEDs for our public spaces falls under our City’s mission statement (to provide effective municipal services, excellent customer service, and sound fiscal management that improves quality of life and ensures a sustainable economy),” Gary Ronzheimer, Muscatine Fire Department Battalion Chief EMS Operations, said.
MUSCOM (Muscatine Joint Communications Center) will provide the code for the door so the caller can access the AED and will walk the caller step-by-step on how to assist.
Spotlighting: The Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation
While only a freshman at Northport High School, Louis Acompora was already a highly touted lacrosse goalie. As the captain of the freshman team, he was being groomed to be the next star varsity goaltender for Northport, a lacrosse powerhouse at the high school level. On March 25, 2000, in his first high school game, tragedy struck. With his parents on the sidelines, he blocked what appeared to be a routine shot with his chest. He took a few steps and collapsed on the field. The coaches and trainers rushed out, and after realizing Louis was not breathing, they began to administer CPR. The paramedics arrived almost 15 minutes after Louis’ collapse. They attempted defibrillation but were too late. Louis passed away. He was 14 years old.
Louis’ parents, John and Karen Acompora, came to realize his death could have been prevented if the school had owned a portable defibrillator. A defibrillator revives cardiac arrest victims with an electric shock to the chest. After Louis died, the Acompora’s started a grassroots campaign to raise awareness among schools and other public institutions about the importance of owning automated external defibrillators (AED), a simple device that would have saved Louis’ life.
The Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation was founded to ensure that similar tragedies are prevented. The Foundation is committed to improving sports safety, with a special focus on placing AEDs in all schools and youth athletic organizations.
Learn more here: https://la12.org/
Did you catch something in the news related to resuscitation recently that you would like to see in this digest? Want to spotlight an event or activity aimed at improving cardiac arrest outcomes?
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