Why giving good quality CPR to cardiac arrest patients is importantCPR quality among the cases analyzed of cardiac arrests happening out of hospital showed that it was associated with bystander CPR being initiated by multiple rescuers. A family member less commonly performed good quality bystander CPR, which was P= 0.0001 and by older bystanders was p= 0.00005 and when it came to a home environment, they wrote p< 0.0001. However, the researchers also noted that 1 year after this event, neurologically favorable survival didn’t pose any significant difference as such between those who had received poor quality and good quality resuscitation.

Key to surviving a cardiac arrest

According to emergency medicine experts, the key to surviving and having a positive neurological outcome for people who experience a cardiac arrest out of hospital is initiating a bystander CPR. It is important that this kind of CPR is performed only with chest compressions and mouth to mouth CPR is not recommended.

However, the researchers also noted that there was low survival rate for patients who had experienced a cardiac arrest out of hospital. The researchers had followed observational data that was self reported from EMTs- Emergency medical technicians in Ishikawa who had made it to the scene for the 553 cases of cardiac arrests reported out of hospital. After their arrival, the EMTs had requested the bystander who was administering the CPR to continue doing so and they evaluated if the bystander initiated CPR is of poor quality or good based on:

  • Appropriate finger or hand positions for the infants
  • The compression rate- at least 100/ minute
  • Depth of compression- about 2 inches or a third of the chest’s anterior- posterior

In addition, the researchers also gathered info on the location of the arrest, region, sex and age of the patient, arrest’s etiology, event’s witness and if the CPR was actually initiated by the bystander or not or with instructions of an emergency medical service dispatch, how the bystander was experienced, initial rhythm of the heart and other information.

Neurologically favorable outcomes for cardiac arrest victims

They categorized the neurologically favorable outcomes using the Glasgow- Pittsburg categories test for cerebral performance. There was no difference in time when the emergency services were called even though recognition of arrest or time to arrest to when the CPR was initiated was shorter for those who gave good quality CPR. The researchers noted that the findings were greatly related to the arrest’s setting and the related resuscitation might vary also in other regions.

It was also noted that the CPR quality measurement was limited only after the EMTs arrival was limited and not between the dispatch time and arrival, lack of evaluating the training history or background of the bystander, by an estimated time of the arrest and self reported arrest which are led to some significant differences in the overall neurological outcomes.