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.
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.
John Dewey
Resuscitation Science Symposium 2024, November 16–17, 2024, Chicago, IL
Join multidisciplinary discussions on the latest in resuscitation science and practice implementation in emergency settings. Build your network and knowledge by engaging with critical care and emergency professionals.
This is an international forum geared towards lively discussions focusing on recent advances in treating cardiopulmonary arrest, discussing bench-to-bedside and community-based research findings related to cardiopulmonary and resuscitation science, emergency cardiovascular care, and CPR quality improvement in adults and pediatrics. Engage with multidisciplinary peers and build your network at every stage of your career.
Learn more here: https://professional.heart.org/en/meetings/resuscitation-science-symposium
How Does Rescuer’s Position Setting Impact Quality of Chest Compression: A Randomized Crossover Simulation Study on Unexperienced Clinicians
High-quality chest compression (CC) is the crux of survival for cardiac arrest patients. While, rescuers’ position setting relative to patients during CC was unrecommended in the present guidelines. We aimed to assess the impact of position settings on CC quality during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and to test the heterogeneity related to rescuers’ characteristics.
Full access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2024/9950885
Helping save a life inspires N.S. nurse to push for more defibrillators in rural community
Eastern Shore nurse Pam Josey recalls a day last December when she was driving home from her clinic and noticed a man lying on the ground receiving CPR at a Sheet Harbour, N.S., gas station.
Josey stopped to help and took turns performing the life-saving procedure while waiting for first responders to arrive, all the while vexed by the lack of first aid equipment on site.
“I was so frustrated that there was nothing to work with,” said Josey, who spent a decade teaching CPR in a hospital. “There was no support. It felt like an eternity.”
The man survived, and Josey started writing to politicians, health officials and the local chamber of commerce, expressing the need for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in her rural community.
This year, three of the devices, which can be used in conjunction with CPR to restore a normal heartbeat, were donated by Emergency Health Services (EHS) for the Sheet Harbour area. A local electrician donated his time and supplies to install the devices, which are accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Access the whole story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/aed-access-nova-scotia-1.7277698
Pioneering project halves distance to nearest defibrillator in Wythenshawe
The average distance to the nearest defibrillator has more than halved in one area of Manchester, thanks to a groundbreaking new project.
Before last year, Wythenshawe had too few defibrillators for the number of people who live there.
We estimated that the average return distance to the nearest defibrillator used to be 1,850m – a 14-minute round trip.
That changed when we set up the Heartsafe Communities scheme in May 2023 with the Oliver Cookson Foundation, Resuscitation Council UK and St John Ambulance. The aim was to improve access to defibrillators and CPR training and ultimately save more lives from cardiac arrest.
A report published today by the four organisations finds that the average distance to the nearest defibrillator in Wythenshawe is now 858m – a round trip of six-and-a-half minutes.
Supraventricular Tachycardia: Mechanisms and Clinical Presentations
Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is an arrhythmia that prevents the heart chambers from filling completely between contractions due to a rapidly beating heart at 100 BPM or more, which may compromise blood flow to the body. Join the American Heart Association live on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 10:00 AM CDT, when experts will provide an overview of the types of SVT and discuss both noninvasive and invasive methods for diagnosing SVT. Followed by an interactive discussion with attendees.
More information and registration: https://heart.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Bg6H1xOsS1mSOlHSdA32yA?utm_campaign=llnewsletter&utm_source=email&utm_medium=aug24#/registration
Rural residents facing slow emergency response times learn life-saving skills
In rural Gallatin County, where emergency response times can be upwards of 30 minutes, residents are learning CPR and getting AED’s installed in rural fire stations so that they now have life-saving measures a little closer to where they are.
“80 percent of the calls that were coming out of the area were medical calls. They weren’t fire. They were emergency medical calls,” says Central Valley Fire District Trustee Rob Holt.
Mechanical CPR Devices Enhance Cardiac Care for Maine EMS
CARIBOU, Maine (WAGM) – Mechanical CPR is a newer tool that Maine EMS services are using to provide more efficient cardiac arrest care to patients. NewsSource 8 reporter Janelle Lopez explains.
“The Lucas is a mechanical CPR device. They’re starting to be more prevalent amongst EMS services. They provide high quality CPR the same as a human would. They follow strict guidelines as far as how CPR is performed.”
“Maine EMS, which is governing body, recommends that we do at least 10 minutes of manual CPR with responding EMS clinicians before implementing the Lucas device. Once I turn this on, and you’ll see it really fast. But once I press it on to the patient, I hit go, it has a quick moment where it senses where it is on the chest. They perform 2 inches in CPR depth, they do between 100 to 120 compressions a minute which is the rate that we want.”
“By doing this our ambulance runs two paramedics, by having this Lucas on it let’s one of us do airway, while this is doing CPR, and the other one is doing medications. They’re just, instead of having to rotate out you know, you talk about every two minutes, they want us to rotate people to make sure that they are able to keep CPR going the way it’s supposed to. We don’t have to rotate out. You put this on and it goes.
Video story: https://www.wagmtv.com/2024/08/13/mechanical-cpr-devices-enhance-cardiac-care-maine-ems/
‘He was extremely lucky’: Wife reacts after husband saved by AED in Hanover’s Pole Green Park
HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — An automated external defibrillator, or AED, saved a man’s life at Pole Green Park in Hanover County during a softball game.
Jack Mullikin’s wife Sally said he is the epitome of health — which made his heart attack all the more shocking. But thanks to the AED in Pole Green Park, he’s still here today.
“I’m numb — I am still numb,” Sally said.
She got a call that her husband had a massive heart attack and that she needed to get to the hospital.
“[They said] ‘Jack is in the ambulance, he is on the way to regional — you need to get there now,’” she said of that phone call.
It was when Jack went into the dugout and sat down that he thought he was experiencing heat stroke. Within the next few minutes, he’d stopped breathing, 911 had been called, CPR was being performed and the AED was being rushed onto the field.
SFU reinforces measures to prevent overdose incidents on campus
Easy-to-use nasal spray naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of opioids, will be made more accessible to students through dedicated cabinets that will be installed around the campus.
In July, the Post-Secondary Overdose Prevention and Response Steering Committee of British Columbia outlined early actions for universities and colleges to adopt by this fall. These measures aim to help students stay safe and reduce the risk and harms related to toxic-drug poisonings on campuses.
Many of these recommendations have long been practiced at SFU. We interviewed Andrea Ringrose, Senior Director of Campus Public Safety (CPS), who is a member of the provincial Steering Committee’s Naloxone Strategy Working Group, to get more information about the proactive and reactive strategies in place at SFU, as well as additional work underway.
Source and more: https://www.sfu.ca/dashboard/faculty-staff/news/2024/08/sfu-reinforces-measures-to-prevent-overdose-incidents-on-campus.html
CCSO, commission purchases 80 life-saving AEDs
CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) and Cullman County Commission recently made what the CCSO called a “substantial investment” into the lives of Cullman County residents. The CCSO partnered with Birmingham-based Cardiac Solutions to provide life-saving equipment for the sheriff’s office.
A media release from Sheriff Matt Gentry said Gentry purchased 80 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) from Cardiac Solutions.
According to Cullman County Administrator John Bullard, the total amount for all the AEDs, setup, service and warranty is $333,060. “This will be paid mostly from opioid response dollars. The first payment of $25,000 has already been paid by the sheriff’s department and the opioid funds will pick up from there,” he said. At the March 19 meeting of the Cullman County Commission, the commission “approved the use of opioid settlement funds to install AED devices in select senior centers and patrol/first responder vehicles.”
Read on: https://www.cullmantribune.com/2024/08/12/ccso-commission-purchase-80-life-saving-aeds/
Cardiac Arrest in the Workplace, By the Numbers
Considerations in Assessing, Planning and Preparing
Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are an important life saving devices and may have a role in workplace safety. The information provided here is intended to provide businesses and others with guidance in assessing needs, as well as planning for and implementing an effective workplace defibrillation program.
Access this article here: https://code1web.com/learning-center/cardiac-arrest-in-the-workplace-by-the-numbers/
British medics save Uzbekistan boxing coach after cardiac arrest at Paris Olympics
The incident occurred on August 8, in the warm-up area at Roland Garros in Paris, where Kilichev was celebrating Uzbek boxer Hasanboy Dusmatov’s gold medal win.
Two members of Great Britain’s Olympic medical team, physiotherapist Robbie Lillis and Dr. Harj Singh, the life of Tulkin Kilichev, the head coach of the Uzbekistan Olympic boxing team, after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the BBC reported on Sunday.
The incident occured on August 8, in the warm-up area at Roland Garros in Paris, where Kilichev was celebrating Uzbek boxer Hasanboy Dusmatov’s gold medal win.
The celebration quickly turned to panic when Kilichev collapsed. Hearing a cry for medical help, Dr. Singh was the first to respond, immediately beginning CPR. Lillis followed closely behind, bringing with him an emergency trauma bag that included a defibrillator.
You can read more or listen to this article here: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-814315
American Heart Association proposes Cardiac Emergency Response Plan bill in ND
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The American Heart Association led a live cardiac drill at the Gateway to Science on Saturday to show how Cardiac Emergency Response Plans can save lives. It plans to propose a new law this legislative session to help keep communities safe.
According to the American Heart Association, cardiac arrests take the lives of 436,000 Americans in one year. It says that only around 40 percent of people who go into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receive vital and immediate assistance before professionals arrive at the scene.
“Time matters, seconds matter, and we need to act as individuals. We can’t wait for them,” said Tony Burke, state government relations director at the American Heart Association.
New approach to cardiac arrest buys survival for Ramona man
A pilot program in San Diego uses a special pump to save cardiac arrest patients
Sterling Sinema is alive today because of quick actions taken by his wife and a diverse group of medical personnel — and a pioneering program to get rapid aid to victims of cardiac arrest.
Headed for urgent care in Escondido to manage a severe bout of heartburn, Sinema suddenly collapsed sitting in the passenger seat of his wife Renee’s vehicle.
“She’s told me I started decompensating or convulsing, whatever it’s called,” Sinema said. “I went into cardiac arrest, and she turned the car around.”
On the way out of town they had passed Ramona’s Fire Station 80 and noticed that the full complement of firefighters and paramedics happened to be on hand. Getting back to that spot, with its ambulance and trained paramedics, was suddenly the only priority.
Source and audio article: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/08/11/new-approach-to-cardiac-arrest-buys-survival-for-ramona-man/
Black people, women in general, are less likely to survive after CPR for cardiac arrest
When a person’s heart stops, their odds of survival are greater if a bystander immediately performs CPR.
But having someone step in during this critical moment is not all that matters.
A new study has uncovered dramatic differences in outcomes based on the race and sex of the people who went into cardiac arrest and got CPR. White people were three times more likely than Black people to survive the episode, and men of any background were twice as likely to survive as women, researchers found. In all of these cases, CPR was administered by someone other than a first responder.
The findings published this week in the American Heart Association journal “Circulation” confounded researchers examining outcomes for the life-saving technique and opened up a new array of questions they’re hoping to explore.
REMINDER: Register for the AHA ECC National Training Network Conference
The American Heart Association will present the 2024 Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) National Training Network Conference, which will be held September 25-26, 2024, at the Marriott Marquis in Chicago.
The conference will feature a line-up of more than 20 peer-to-peer sessions and plenary presentations, as well as several ACLS, PALS, and BLS live demonstrations.
On September 24, they will have a pre-conference course and offer ACLS for Experienced Providers (ACLS EP).
More information and registration: https://cpr.heart.org/en/resources/ecc-conferences-and-events
SPOTLIGHTING: The Resuscitation Academy
With roots in public health, academic medicine and emergency medical services, the Resuscitation Academy works with EMS providers and leaders, as well as community and elected officials, to help communities worldwide strengthen their cardiac arrest survival rates.
Learn more: https://www.resuscitationacademy.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?
Feel free to email david@code1web.com