Field termination of pediatric resuscitation is a difficult topic for EMS systems, prehospital providers, first responders, and the patient’s family. Clear guidelines exist for the termination of resuscitation of adults in cardiac arrest for both traumatic and non-traumatic etiologies, and routine transportation of adults in cardiac arrest all but guarantees poor outcomes. Unfortunately, for pediatric […]

Here is the conclusion to 47 year old male CC: Crushing chest pain. You may want to go back and read the original case presentation to see how we got to this point. When we left off we had this rhythm on the monitor and surprisingly the patient was conscious and talking!  As usual there […]

As I've mentioned on several different occasions, it's a huge mistake to wait until a tragedy occurs to explain the truth about response times to your community. Response times should be measured from the patient's perspective. In other words, from the moment the dispatcher picks up the phone and says, "9-1-1 what is your emergency?" […]

This is the conclusion to 60 year old male CC: Sudden cardiac arrest. As you may recall the resuscitation was implemented using Adult Pit Crew CPR. This is not meant to miminize the importance of the chain-of-survival, including early activation of 9-1-1 and bystander CPR. Those links were intact for this case and that is extremely […]

Here's a great case submitted by a faithful reader who wishes to remain anonymous. Some minor details have been changed to preserve patient confidentiality and some relevant comments and teaching points have been added. EMS is called to a barbecue festival for 60 year old male, unconscious and unresponsive, possible cardiac arrest. En route dispatch […]

via NBC 17 News In these trying economic times, wouldn't it be nice to enjoy these bragging rights? It's not so easy for elected officials to cut your budget when you can prove you're a vital public service!  It feels good to save people, too. As noted by the panelists of the HeartRescue Project at […]

Editor's note: Since it's all over the news that Seattle's "save rate" for cardiac arrest (witnessed collapse, presumed cardiac etiology, shockable rhythm) is over 50%, I asked Dave Hitlz of the HEARTsafe Community page on Facebook if I could re-post an article he and Mathias Duschl wrote about their experience at the Resuscitation Academy. He […]

Here is the 12-lead ECG that was captured just as she went into cardiac arrest.

Here’s an interesting case submitted by Mike from Massachusetts. Here’s the story in Mike’s own words: EMS is contacted by a local rehabilitation facility for a female patient with a cardiac disorder. Initial dispatch is an ALS ambulance, ALS squad, and a BLS engine company. Approximately 20 minutes prior to EMS arrival, patient began experiencing […]

We had a spirited and interesting discussion about cardiac arrest.