Abstract
Aim
The aim of this study is to establish the role and outcome of general practitioner
(GP) involvement in out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) resuscitation in the Republic
of Ireland.
Methods
A ten year prospective observational study involving a cohort of Irish general practices.
Setting
521 general practice settings distributed throughout the Republic of Ireland, representing
approximately one quarter of all practices and a third of Irish GPs.
Participants
534 patients suffering cardiac arrest in the community for whom resuscitation was
attempted.
Interventions
Cardiac arrest with resuscitation attempted (CARA) in which a GP played a role.
Results
Over a ten year period almost half of participating practices reported one or more
CARAs. A total of 534 CARAs were reported at a variety of locations; 161 (30%) had
ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation) at some point, with outcome data available
for 147/161; 90 patients survived to hospital discharge. Most survivors for whom follow
up data are available were discharged home and were completely independent. The highest
rate of survival was achieved when CARAs occurred at a GP practice premises (47.4%).
Conclusions
Resuscitation following OHCA is a key task in general practice. Over time a significant
number of GPs encounter OHCA, attempt resuscitation and achieve higher survival to
hospital discharge rates than occur nationally among OHCAs in Ireland. We conclude
that a defibrillator should be routinely available at all general practices and staff
should have appropriate resuscitation skills.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 03, 2018
Accepted:
February 28,
2018
Received in revised form:
February 6,
2018
Received:
October 21,
2017
Footnotes
☆A Spanish translated version of the abstract of this article appears as Appendix in the final online version at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2018.02.030. We dedicate this paper to our friend and colleague Dr. Geoff King (RIP 2014), Director Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, who played a key role in initiating this project.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
