Should selected cardiac arrest patients bypass their nearest hospital for a specialist centre? This 2017 review examines a London pilot trial, explaining its narrow patient group and why demonstrating feasibility is different from establishing an improvement in survival.
JC: Cardiac arrest centres and bypass. St.Emlyn’s Read More
Could cold saline given during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest improve survival? This 2016 appraisal of RINSE examines an early-stopped randomised trial, its lack of demonstrated survival benefit and concerns about harm, while distinguishing intra-arrest cooling from temperature management after resuscitation.
JC. Pre-hospital therapeutic hypothermia: The RINSE trial. St.Emlyn’s Read More
Could erythropoietin protect the brain after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest? This 2016 appraisal examines a French randomised trial that found no neurological or survival advantage and more adverse events, including thromboembolism, highlighting the gap between biological promise and demonstrated patient benefit.
JC: Does EPO improve OOHCA outcomes? St.Emlyn’s Read More
Two 2016 studies examine difficult questions in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: whether amiodarone or lidocaine improves outcomes, and how resuscitation duration relates to neurological recovery. Natalie May considers study design, statistical uncertainty and why translating findings into bedside decisions needs care.
JC: Arrested Developments. St.Emlyn’s Read More
When might withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment be considered in the emergency department? Using hypothetical cases and the 2008 UK code of practice, this 2016 discussion explores uncertain prognosis, reversible causes, patient wishes and the need for senior colleagues and families to be involved.
Chris Gray reports from the 2015 London Cardiac Arrest Symposium, covering adrenaline, care after resuscitation, mechanical CPR and survivors’ experiences. This conference archive captures the questions and uncertainties discussed at the time, before the results of the PARAMEDIC2 trial were available.
London Cardiac Arrest Symposium #LTC2015 St.Emlyn’s Read More
Iain Beardsell talks with Mark Wilson about GoodSAM at the London Trauma Conference. Published in 2015, this podcast post builds on the app’s original aim of alerting nearby trained responders to emergencies, with links to its introduction and related prehospital teaching.
Podcast – GoodSAM app at the London Trauma Conference with Mark Wilson Read More
This 2014 journal club examines the PARAMEDIC trial of mechanical versus manual CPR in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Alongside the cluster-randomised design and survival findings, Simon Carley reflects on separating life support from treatment of the underlying cause and how resuscitation teams divide their attention.
JC: PARAMEDIC trial m-CPR at St.Emlyn’s Read More
