Impact of the Organization of the First Responders in the Remote Areas on Cardiac Arrest Victim Survival

Impact of the Organization of the First Responders in the Remote Areas on Cardiac Arrest Victim Survival: an Utstein Analysis

Emergency medical services (EMS) provide emergency care not only in the urban but also in the remote areas which could be up to 40 minutes from the EMS station. Thus, a cardiac arrest victim in those remote areas has a low likelihood to survive the cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Therefore, we have organized first responders (who are mostly volunteer fire-fighters) in the remote areas and taught them how to perform basic life support (BLS) with use of an automated external defibrillator (AED). In the case of a cardiac arrest the medical dispatcher activates simultaneously the EMS and the first responders, who perform the BLS with the use of an AED before the arrival of EMS.

The aim of the study is to analyze and compare the survival of the cardiac arrest victims in remote areas in the time period when the first responders were not organized yet compared to the time period when the first responders were activated to perform BLS.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cardiac Arrest, Sudden
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Basic life support witn use of an AED before EMS

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 150

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

In the study will be included all adult cardiac arrest victims in the remote areas.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• cardiac arrest in adult victims

Exclusion Criteria:

• cardiac arrest in pediatric population

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
First responder group; Cardiac arrest victims in remote areas resuscitated by the first responders before the arrival of the EMS.	Other: Basic life support witn use of an AED before EMS; BLS performance with use of an AED before arrival of EMS
EMS groups; Cardiac arrest victims in remote areas resuscitated by the EMS.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)	The number of patients who gained the ROSC.	5 years
Survival to hospital discharge	The number of patients who survived to hospital discharge.	5 years
Neurological outcome	The number of patients with good neurological outcome assessed with cerebral performance score (CPC 1-2).	5 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Survival till hospital admission	The number of patients who survived to hospital admission.	5 years
30 day survival	The number of patients who survived first 30 days after cardiac arrest.	5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Medical Centre Maribor

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): March 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 31, 2019
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): August 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 21, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 23, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): July 24, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): October 5, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 27, 2021
• Last Verified: September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: cardiac arrest; first responders; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; automated external defibrillator
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Death, Sudden; Death; Heart Arrest; Death, Sudden, Cardiac
• Other Study ID Numbers: UKC-MB-KME-24/20

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No