The frequency and consequences of cardiopulmonary resuscitation performed by bystanders on patients who are not in cardiac arrest. Prehosp Emerg Care 2011;15(2):282-7
Date
01/22/2011Pubmed ID
21250928DOI
10.3109/10903127.2010.541981Scopus ID
2-s2.0-79952264190 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 24 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: The American Heart Association encourages trained and untrained bystanders to perform, at a minimum, chest compressions on anyone who suddenly collapses. It is possible that people who are not in cardiac arrest may receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), from which the potential for injury is unknown.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the number of victims who received bystander CPR but were not in cardiac arrest and to identify any injuries resulting from receiving bystander CPR.
METHODS: Retrospective review of patient care records from a countywide emergency medical services (EMS) database. All patients treated by EMS between March 2003 and February 2009 who received bystander CPR were queried. Victims who were determined not to be in cardiac arrest upon EMS personnel assessment were identified as likely not in cardiac arrest. Hospital medical records for transported patients were reviewed for injuries possibly related to CPR. Patient demographics were collected and descriptive statistics were used for analysis.
RESULTS: Six hundred seventy-two incidents of bystander CPR occurred, with 77 (11.5%) cases not being identified as cardiac arrests by EMS. Twenty-three percent of the patients were less than 19 years of age. Emergency medical services arrived in less than 6 minutes for 68% of patients. Seventy-two patients were evaluable for injury; of those, 53% were admitted to the intensive care unit. One patient (1.4%) had an injury that was documented in the medical record as possibly CPR-related: rhabdomyolysis.
CONCLUSIONS: Bystanders provide CPR for patients who are not in cardiac arrest at a relatively low frequency. Short-duration bystander CPR caused injury in less than 2% of victims. Our results suggest that the benefits of bystander CPR for adults who suddenly collapse outweigh the risk of injury for those not in cardiac arrest.
Author List
Haley KB, Lerner EB, Pirrallo RG, Croft H, Johnson A, Uihlein MAuthor
Michael Uihlein MD Assistant Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
American Heart Association
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Chest Wall Oscillation
Emergency Medical Technicians
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
United States
Wounds and Injuries
Young Adult
