Does Experience Matter? Paramedic Cardiac Resuscitation Experience Effect on Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes

AbstractObjective: Outcomes of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) are influenced by many factors. We postulate that paramedics who have participated in a greater number of OHCA resuscitations will have improved patient outcomes when compared to paramedics who participated in fewer resuscitations. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data abstracted from the cardiac arrest database of a large urban EMS system. All OHCA cases where resuscitation was attempted during the year 2014 were reviewed. Our outcome of interest was the rate of sustained Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC), which is defined as ROSC for five continuous minutes or greater. The rate of sustained ROSC was calculated from cases when paramedics served in the role of the lead medic. These rates were then analyzed using the Chi-Square test. Results: A total of 1,145 cases of OHCA met criteria for inclusion in this study, of which 343 paramedics participated in at least one cardiac arrest in 2014. T...