ECMO in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

In a population-based registry, 4% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) were treated with extracorporeal-CPR, which was not associated with increased hospital survival. Early extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)... read more

ECMO in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

When Patients Die in the ICU, Should Their Family Be Allowed to Watch?

In most ICUs, it's standard practice to send relatives out of the room when a patient codes, but a growing body of research—and one doctor's personal experience—suggests relatives should be allowed to witness the medical... read more

When Patients Die in the ICU, Should Their Family Be Allowed to Watch?

Healthcare Provider Perceptions of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Quality During Simulation Training

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance during mock codes does not meet the American Heart Association's quality recommendations. Healthcare providers have poor insight into the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation... read more

Healthcare Provider Perceptions of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Quality During Simulation Training

Prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration and neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among children by location of arrest

A longer prehospital EMS CPR duration is independently associated with a lower proportion of patients with a favorable neurological outcome. The association between prehospital EMS CPR duration and neurological outcome... read more

Prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration and neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among children by location of arrest

Sex-specific Differences in Survival After Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

This nationwide, population-based observational study in Japan included 386,535 adult patients aged ≥ 18 years with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). In all these patients, resuscitation was attempted by EMS personnel... read more

Sex-specific Differences in Survival After Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients Who Received Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Although overall survival of ICU patients was 15.9%, patients requiring pressors and who experienced a CPA in an ICU were half as likely to survive to discharge and to be discharged home than patients not taking pressors.... read more

Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients Who Received Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Hyperinvasive approach to out-of hospital cardiac arrest using mechanical chest compression device

Authors introduce and offer a protocol of a proposed randomized study enrolling patients with witnessed OHCA presumably of cardiac origin planned to be initiated in Prague in 2012. Study will compare hyperinvasive approach... read more

Hyperinvasive approach to out-of hospital cardiac arrest using mechanical chest compression device

Critical Care Controversies: The REBEL vs The SKEPTIC at #SMACC 2019

On the last day of the last SMACC conference, Dr. Ken Milne (The SGEM) and I had a cage match debating four critical care controversies. It was all done in good fun with both of us taking our opportunities to poke a little... read more

Critical Care Controversies: The REBEL vs The SKEPTIC at #SMACC 2019

Secrets of an Intensive Care Doctor

There are few jobs that place you on the frontiers of human existence: midwives see lives into the world, undertakers oversee their departure. In between these beginnings and endings, surgeons, doctors and nurses interact... read more

Secrets of an Intensive Care Doctor

Medical Dispatchers’ Perception of Visual Information in Real Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

Providing medical dispatchers with visual information from the location of OHCA might improve their understanding of the OHCA-scenario, which might enhance communication, their ability to guide more bystanders and improve... read more

Medical Dispatchers’ Perception of Visual Information in Real Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest

Relationship Between Level of CPR Training, Self-reported Skills, and Actual Manikin Test Performance

As expected, higher levels of BLS training correlated with better cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quality. However, this study showed that ventilations and hands-on time were the components of CPR that were most affected... read more

Relationship Between Level of CPR Training, Self-reported Skills, and Actual Manikin Test Performance

Optimum Chest Compression Point for CPR in Children Revisited Using a 3D Coordinate System Imposed on CT

The optimum chest compression site (P_optimum) in children is debated: European Resuscitation Council recommends one finger breadth above the xiphisternal joint, whereas American Heart Association proposes the lower sternal... read more

Optimum Chest Compression Point for CPR in Children Revisited Using a 3D Coordinate System Imposed on CT

The Patients Were Saved. That’s Why the Families Are Suing

What happened to Beatrice Weisman before dawn on Aug. 29, 2013, was not supposed to happen: The medical staff at Maryland General Hospital found her in cardiac arrest, resuscitated her and kept her alive. The matriarch of... read more

The Patients Were Saved. That’s Why the Families Are Suing

Is a Golden Age of Resuscitation on the Horizon?

Is emergency medicine on the verge of "the dawn of a new golden age of resuscitation?" That's the bold prediction from CPR innovator Keith Lurie, MD, a professor of internal and emergency medicine at the University of Minnesota,... read more

Is a Golden Age of Resuscitation on the Horizon?

Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During CPR on Neurological Outcome After OHCA

Among patients with out-of-hospital cardiorespiratory arrest (OHCA), the use of BMV compared with ETI failed to demonstrate noninferiority or inferiority for survival with favorable 28-day neurological function, an inconclusive... read more

Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During CPR on Neurological Outcome After OHCA

Surviving Refractory Out-of-Hospital Ventricular Fibrillation Cardiac Arrest

Multi-system organ failure is ubiquitous but treatable with adequate hemodynamic support. Neurologic recovery was prolonged requiring delayed prognostication. Immediate 24/7 availability of surgical and medical specialty... read more

Surviving Refractory Out-of-Hospital Ventricular Fibrillation Cardiac Arrest

Withdrawing vs. Not Offering Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Is There a Difference?

In light of the SCC's Cuthbertson v. Rasouli decision, the distinction between withdrawing and not offering a medical treatment is increasingly relevant. Because CPR is a "default" treatment for cardiac arrest, it requires... read more

Preventing Harmful Delays with POCUS During Cardiac Arrest

With the integration of bedside echocardiography into cardiac arrest, we now have a real-time tool to help us glean some of this critical missing information, as well as offer procedural guidance and prognostic data. However,... read more

Preventing Harmful Delays with POCUS During Cardiac Arrest