Management of cardiac arrest in the community: a survey of resuscitation services.

A survey of the English health regions identified nine ambulance based resuscitation schemes. Their structure and function are heterogeneous and their impact on patient survival is often speculative. There is considerable medical, paramedical, and lay enthusiasm for resuscitation schemes but this cannot be harnessed until medicolegal uncertainties are removed and guidelines for development are set out. Better documentation of the benefits of existing schemes should be undertaken so that advanced training of ambulance personnel can proceed rationally.