BACKGROUND: The content of emergency calls for suspected cardiac arrest is rarely analyzed. This study investigated the recognition of a cardiac arrest by dispatchers and its influence on survival rates. METHODS AND RESULTS: During 8 months, voice recordings of 14,800 consecutive emergency calls were collected to audit content and cardiac arrest recognition. The presence of cardiac arrest during the call was assessed from the ambulance crew report. Included calls were placed by laypersons on site and did not involve trauma. Prevalence of cardiac arrest was 3.0%. Of the 285 cardiac arrests, 82 (29%) were not recognized during the call, and 64 of 267 suspected calls (24%) were not cardiac arrest. We analyzed a random sample (n=506) of 9230 control calls. Three-month survival was 5% when a cardiac arrest was not recognized versus 14% when it was recognized (P=0.04). If the dispatcher did not recognize the cardiac arrest, the ambulance was dispatched a mean of 0.94 minute later (P<0.001) and arrived 1.40 minutes later on scene (P=0.01) compared with recognized calls. The main reason for not recognizing the cardiac arrest was not asking if the patient was breathing (42 of 82) and not asking to describe the type of breathing (16 of 82). Normal breathing was never mentioned in true cardiac arrest calls. A logistic regression model identified spontaneous trigger words like facial color that could contribute to cardiac arrest recognition (odds ratio, 7.8 to 9.7). CONCLUSIONS: Not recognizing a cardiac arrest during emergency calls decreases survival. Spontaneous words that the caller uses to describe the patient may aid in faster and better recognition of a cardiac arrest.
BACKGROUND: The content of emergency calls for suspected cardiac arrest is rarely analyzed. This study investigated the recognition of a cardiac arrest by dispatchers and its influence on survival rates. METHODS AND RESULTS: During 8 months, voice recordings of 14,800 consecutive emergency calls were collected to audit content and cardiac arrest recognition. The presence of cardiac arrest during the call was assessed from the ambulance crew report. Included calls were placed by laypersons on site and did not involve trauma. Prevalence of cardiac arrest was 3.0%. Of the 285 cardiac arrests, 82 (29%) were not recognized during the call, and 64 of 267 suspected calls (24%) were not cardiac arrest. We analyzed a random sample (n=506) of 9230 control calls. Three-month survival was 5% when a cardiac arrest was not recognized versus 14% when it was recognized (P=0.04). If the dispatcher did not recognize the cardiac arrest, the ambulance was dispatched a mean of 0.94 minute later (P<0.001) and arrived 1.40 minutes later on scene (P=0.01) compared with recognized calls. The main reason for not recognizing the cardiac arrest was not asking if the patient was breathing (42 of 82) and not asking to describe the type of breathing (16 of 82). Normal breathing was never mentioned in true cardiac arrest calls. A logistic regression model identified spontaneous trigger words like facial color that could contribute to cardiac arrest recognition (odds ratio, 7.8 to 9.7). CONCLUSIONS: Not recognizing a cardiac arrest during emergency calls decreases survival. Spontaneous words that the caller uses to describe the patient may aid in faster and better recognition of a cardiac arrest.
Authors: Lauren Hampton; Peter Brindley; Andrew Kirkpatrick; Jessica McKee; Julian Regehr; Douglas Martin; Anthony LaPorta; Jason Park; Ashley Vergis; Lawrence Gillman Journal: Can J Surg Date: 2020-11-30 Impact factor: 2.089
Authors: Jerry P Nolan; Mary Fran Hazinski; John E Billi; Bernd W Boettiger; Leo Bossaert; Allan R de Caen; Charles D Deakin; Saul Drajer; Brian Eigel; Robert W Hickey; Ian Jacobs; Monica E Kleinman; Walter Kloeck; Rudolph W Koster; Swee Han Lim; Mary E Mancini; William H Montgomery; Peter T Morley; Laurie J Morrison; Vinay M Nadkarni; Robert E O'Connor; Kazuo Okada; Jeffrey M Perlman; Michael R Sayre; Michael Shuster; Jasmeet Soar; Kjetil Sunde; Andrew H Travers; Jonathan Wyllie; David Zideman Journal: Resuscitation Date: 2010-10 Impact factor: 5.262
Authors: Philip Weng Kee Leong; Benjamin Sieu-Hon Leong; Shalini Arulanandam; Marie Xin Ru Ng; Yih Yng Ng; Marcus Eng Hock Ong; Desmond Ren Hao Mao Journal: Singapore Med J Date: 2020-05-27 Impact factor: 1.858
Authors: Theresa M Olasveengen; Mary E Mancini; Gavin D Perkins; Suzanne Avis; Steven Brooks; Maaret Castrén; Sung Phil Chung; Julie Considine; Keith Couper; Raffo Escalante; Tetsuo Hatanaka; Kevin K C Hung; Peter Kudenchuk; Swee Han Lim; Chika Nishiyama; Giuseppe Ristagno; Federico Semeraro; Christopher M Smith; Michael A Smyth; Christian Vaillancourt; Jerry P Nolan; Mary Fran Hazinski; Peter T Morley Journal: Resuscitation Date: 2020-10-21 Impact factor: 5.262