Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest volumes and characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIM: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted Emergency Medical Services (EMS) operations throughout the country. Some studies described variation in total volume of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) during the pandemic. We aimed to describe the changes in volume and characteristics of OHCA patients and resuscitations in one urban EMS system. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of all recorded atraumatic OHCA in Marion County, Indiana, from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 and from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020. We described patient, arrest, EMS response, and survival characteristics. We performed paired and unpaired t-tests to evaluate the changes in those characteristics during COVID-19 as compared to the prior year. Data were matched by month to control for seasonal variation. RESULTS: The total number of arrests increased from 884 in 2019 to 1034 in 2020 (p = 0.016). Comparing 2019 to 2020, there was little difference in age [median 62 (IQR 59-73) and 60 (IQR 47-72), p = 0.086], gender (38.5% and 39.8% female, p = 0.7466, witness to arrest (44.3% and 39.6%, p = 0.092), bystander AED use (10.1% and 11.4% p = 0.379), bystander CPR (48.7% and 51.4%, p = 0.242). Patients with a shockable initial rhythm (19.2% and 15.4%, p = 0.044) both decreased in 2020, and response time increased by 18 s [6.0 min (IQR 4.5-7.7) and 6.3 min (IQR 4.7-8.0), p = 0.008]. 47.7% and 54.8% (p = 0.001) of OHCA patients died in the field, 19.7% and 19.3% (p = 0.809) died in the Emergency Department, 21.8% and 18.5% (p = 0.044) died in the hospital, 10.8% and 7.4% (p = 0.012) were discharged from the hospital, and 9.3% and 5.9% (p = 0.005) were discharged with Cerebral Performance Category score ≤ 2. CONCLUSION: Total OHCA increased during the COVID-19 pandemic when compared with the prior year. Although patient characteristics were similar, initial shockable rhythm, and proportion of patients who died in the hospital decreased during the pandemic. Further investigation will explore etiologies of those findings.

OpenMRS as an emergency EMR-How we used a global good to create an emergency EMR in a week.

BACKGROUND: As the coronavirus pandemic progressed through the United States, Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services (IEMS) identified a gap between the health system capacity and the projected need to support an overwhelmed health care system. In addressing emergencies or special cases, each medical institution in a metropolitan area typically has a siloed process for capturing emergency patient records. These approaches vary in technical capabilities and may include use of an electronic medical record system (EMR) or a hybrid paper/EMR process. Given the projected volume of patients for the COVID-19 pandemic and the proposed multi-institutional team approach needed in case of significant provider illness, IEMS sought a simple, efficient, consolidated EMR solution to support planning for the potential capacity gap. IEMS approached Regenstrief Institute (RI), an established partner with experience in supporting OpenMRS, a global good EMR platform that had been deployed in multiple settings globally. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this project was to determine if OpenMRS, a global good, could be used to quickly stand up a system that would meet the needs for health emergency data collection and reporting. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION METHODS: The team used an "all hands on deck" approach, bringing together technical and subject matter experts, and a human-centered and iterative process to ensure the system met the key needs of IEMS. The OpenMRS Reference Application was adapted to the specific need and deployed as Docker containers to servers within the Indiana Health Information Exchange. PROJECT OUTCOMES AND LESSONS LEARNED: In less than two weeks, the Regenstrief team was able to install, configure and set up a working version of OpenMRS to support the desired electronic record requirements for the IEMS disaster field clinics. Using a human-centered approach, the RI team developed, tested, and released a user-friendly, installation-ready solution complete with an end user manual and a base support plan. IEMS and RI are sharing this approach to demonstrate how a global good can quickly generate a solution for COVID-19 and other disaster responses. CONCLUSIONS: Open source global goods can rapidly be adapted to meet local needs in an emergency. OpenMRS can be adapted to meet the needs of basic emergency medical services registration, triage, and basic data collection.