Quick, consistent and uninterrupted chest compressions are key to survival from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), according to a new study by the Research Outcomes Consortium (ROC), a clinical trial network focused on prehospital SCA and severe traumatic injury.
"We learned there were too many interruptions in chest compressions
during CPR," explains Ahamed Idris, M.D., Professor of Surgery and
Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "By doing vigorous chest compressions, without interruption, a
person can actually produce reasonable circulation to help that person
stay alive until a professional arrives."
In the past, CPR instruction focused on a sequence of 30 chest
compressions, followed by two breaths, then another 30 compressions and
two breaths.
Researchers say 40 lives were saved in 2009 in the 12 cities
participating in the ROC study. It
was funded by the National Institutes of Health, and researchers say it
reveals positive outcomes for patients when paramedics focused on chest
compressions after a person collapsed due to SCA.
"Paramedics tended to move the person from the home to the ambulance
and begin transport to the hospital too soon," explained Idris.
Now the focus is on performing CPR within one to five minutes and
not moving the patient. Idris says in the past paramedics interrupted
chest compressions by moving the patient, inserting breathing tubes,
applying AED shocks, checking heart rhythm and starting an I.V.
Researchers say the $3.5 million NIH grant paid for equipment,
doctors, staffing, equipment, monitoring of 10,000 patients and
training for 2,000 paramedics. They say every paramedic, in the 12
cities that participated, was trained three times.
Researchers are publishing their findings and informing the general public.
It's estimated that 80-percent of CPR is performed in someone's
home. "It really is up to all of us to learn CPR and do it better,"
says Dr. Paul Pepe, Chairman of Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern
Medical Center Dallas/Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The technical equipment used in every ambulance continues to show
researchers when each chest compression is administered. "It actually
helps us monitor every single stroke of CPR," explained Pepe. "We know
when it's being interrupted, how well it was done, how hard it was
pushed, how fast it was pushed and we can give feedback to rescuers to
help improve their style, their ability to do it and most importantly
improve life-saving affects."