Cardiopulmonary resuscitation: The short comings in Malaysia

This short review explores the current status of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in Malaysia and highlights some of the factors that have a negative impact on its rate of success. Absence of a unifying body such as a national resuscitation council results in non-uniformity in the practice and teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the out-of-hospital setting, there is the lack of basic skills and knowledge in performing bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation as well as using an automated external defibrillator among the Malaysian public. The ambulance response time is also a significant negative factor. In the in-hospital setting, often times, resuscitation is first attended by junior doctors or nurses lacking in the skill and experience needed. Resuscitation trolleys were often inadequately equipped.

Clinical Analysis of Submerged Patients Treated at an Emergency Medical Center near the Han River

BACKGROUND: There are approximately 2,400 drowning deaths reported every year in Korea, but there are few good reports about submerged patients visiting the emergency room, so this study was designed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of submerged patients treated at an emergency medical center near the Han river. METHODS: A retrospective review of 123 cases of submerged patients admitted to our emergency medical center over a 5 year period from 1996 to 2000 was conducted. RESULTS: Among the 123 submerged patients, there were 66 males and 57 females, and their mean age was 33.18. The common cause of submersions was a suicide attempt, followed by lack of attention, unknown etiology, and water sports such as swimming. Most of the patients were transported to ER by 119 ambulance. In-hospital CPR was performed on 27(22%) cases. At initial ECG rhythm of these cases, asystole was noted in 25 patients; VF and pulseless electrical activity, respectively, were noted in two others. Prehospital CPR had been performed on all in-hospital CPR cases except 2. Prolonged ROSC after succesful CPR was noted in 13 cases. The mean duration of CPR was 26 minutes. Five patients survived after CPR. Their neurologic outcomes were assessed on CPC(cerebral performance category). Three patients were categorized in CPC1, the other two patients were categorized in CPC3 and CPC4. CONCLUSION: Submerged patient's visits to emergency medical center near the Han river were most frequent in summer for suicide purposes. Drowned patients were more hypothermic than other cardiac arrest cases, and resulted in better outcome even with prolonged arrest time, if they were given appropriate prehospital CPR and aggressive in-hospital resuscitation.

Analysis of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation In Ward of Tertiary Hospital

BACKGROUND: Although cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) is a very effective therapy in cardiac arrest, it is hard to prove the true effectiveness of CPR. Several studies about out-of-hospital and emergency department CPR exist, but only a few reports about in-hospital CPR are available. This study was designed to investigate in-hospital cardiac arrest, to analyze the result of CPR, and to evaluate the problems associated with in-hospital CPR. METHODS: A clinical analysis of 71 cases of in-hospital CPR announcement from January 2000 to August 2000 was performed. The initial rhythm on cardiac arrest, return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC), and the survivals were analyzed in the case of the 46 true cardiac arrest patients. RESULTS: During 8 months, there were 71 cases of in-hospital CPR announcement. Among them, there were 46 cases of true cardiac arrest and 25 cases of non-cardiac arrest. Of the 46 true cardiac-arrest cases, 27(58.7%) experienced ROSC, 15(32.6) survived for over 24 hours, and 7(15.2%) survived to be discharged. The initial rhythms on cardiac arrest were 30 cases(65.2%) of asystole, 14(30.4%) of PEA(pulseless electrical activity), and 2(4.3%) of ventricular fibrillation, with ROSC being 17 cases(56.7%), 9(64.3%) and 1(50.0%) cases and discharged survivors being 4 cases(13.3%), 3(21.4%) and 0(0.0%) cases, respectively. CONCLUSION: Extraordinarily high proportions of asystole and PEA were seen in the initial rhythm of cardiac arrest, and those were associated with high survival rates. Although further study is needed to evaluate the course leading to this high proportion of asystole and PEA, this result suggests that if the EMS system in the hospital is activated promptly and systematically, a better outcome will be achieved in case of cardiac arrest with asystole and PEA.