Abstract
Aim
To characterize defibrillation and cardiac arrest survival outcomes in movies.
Methods
Movies from 2003 to 2012 with defibrillation scenes were reviewed for patient and
rescuer characteristics, scene characteristics, defibrillation characteristics, additional
interventions, and cardiac arrest survival outcomes. Resuscitation actions were compared
with chain of survival actions and the American Heart Association (AHA) Emergency
Cardiovascular Care (ECC) 2020 Impact Goals. Cardiac arrest survival outcomes were
compared with survival rates reported in the literature and targeted by the AHA ECC
2020 Impact Goals.
Results
Thirty-five scenes were identified in 32 movies. Twenty-five (71%) patients were male,
and 29 (83%) rescuers were male. Intent of defibrillation was resuscitation in 29
(83%) scenes and harm in 6 (17%) scenes. Cardiac arrest was the indication for use
in 23 (66%) scenes, and the heart rhythm was made known in 18 scenes (51%). When the
heart rhythm was known, defibrillation was appropriately used for ventricular tachycardia
or ventricular fibrillation in 5 (28%) scenes and inappropriately used for asystole
in 7 (39%) scenes. In 8 scenes with in-hospital cardiac arrest, 7 (88%) patients survived,
compared to survival rates of 23.9% reported in the literature and 38% targeted by
an AHA ECC 2020 Impact Goal. In 12 movie scenes with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest,
8 (67%) patients survived, compared to survival rates of 7.9–9.5% reported in peer-reviewed
literature and 15.8% targeted by an AHA ECC 2020 Impact Goal.
Conclusion
In movies, defibrillation and cardiac arrest survival outcomes are often portrayed
inaccurately, representing missed opportunities for public health education.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 18, 2014
Accepted:
September 3,
2014
Received:
August 22,
2014
Footnotes
☆A Spanish translated version of the summary of this article appears as Appendix in the final online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2014.09.005.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
