Evaluation of outcome following cardiac arrest in patients presenting to two Scottish emergency departments

1995 
Abstract Objectives: To compare and contrast outcomes following cardiac arrest managed in two Accident and Emergency departments, and to identify factors which might account for such differences. Design: Prospective 1-year evaluation of patients sustaining an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Setting: The Accident and Emergency departments of the Edinburgh (ERI) and Glasgow (GRI) Royal Infirmaries which serve two large urban municipalities. Patients: All patients sustaining a prehospital cardiac arrest and brought to ERI or GRI were included. Children ( Measurements and main results: There were 297 prehospital arrests from ERI, and 158 from GRI. Eighty-two (27.6%) were admitted as ‘in-patients’ to ERI and 23 (14.6%) to GRI ( P VF VT :Asystole observed was significantly different between the two centres — 162:98 from ERI, 54:73 from GRI ( P P P Conclusions: Patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Edinburgh have a significantly better chance of being admitted to a ward. There is a trend favouring better survival to discharge in Edinburgh, but with the numbers investigated this does not achieve statistical significance. Amongst those factors which contribute to survival there are fewer witnessed arrests, less bystander CPR and slower ambulance response times in those brought to GRI. There is a need to investigate the environment in which patients collapse, to train the public in CPR, and to review the efficiency and resourcing of the ambulance service.
    • Correction
    • Source
    • Cite
    • Save
    • Machine Reading By IdeaReader
    12
    References
    21
    Citations
    NaN
    KQI
    []