SURVIVE CARDIAC ARREST

Survive Cardiac Arrest is a free public service supported by the University of Washington School of Medicine. This web site is designed to help managers, medical directors, and leaders of emergency medical services improve survival from cardiac arrest in their communities. This site supplements the information contained in Resuscitate: Surviving Cardiac Arrest and Why Some Communities Succeed and Others Fail published by University of Washington Press, 2009.

The first step in improving a problem is to define it. Much of the information in this site is geared toward accurately defining the current cardiac arrest situation in a community. It is crucial to know exact how well or not so well an EMS system is doing. With this as a starting point one can begin to work on possible solutions.

CARDIAC ARREST INFORMATION

• Incidence and prevalence of coronary artery disease and cardiac arrest
• Cardiac arrest survival information
• 46 fold difference in survival among US cities
• What is Utstein and what does it have to do with cardiac arrest?

IMPROVING CARDIAC ARREST SURVIVAL

50 factors associated with cardiac arrest survival

• Overview
• Patient factors
• Event factors
• System factors
• Therapy factors

25 recommendations to improve cardiac arrest survival

• Immediate steps
• Local action plan
• National action plan

CARDIAC ARREST REGISTRY

• How to establish a cardiac arrest registry
• Measuring time intervals
• Sources of information
• Cardiac arrest - basic registry information
• Cardiac arrest - detailed registry information
• Dispatcher Assisted Telephone CPR registry
• EMT - defibrillation registry
• Interview form for patient or surviving spouse or partner
• Final case audit

OTHER INFORMATION

• A cardiac arrest survival formula
• Importance of dispatcher assisted telephone CPR
• Resuscitation Academy
• Frequently asked questions
• Cardiac arrest community report card