A History and Overview of Telecommunicator Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (T-CPR).

Few events in pre-hospital medicine inspire as much attention and resources as out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), yet the survival rate for such events has remained stagnant and unacceptably low. The first links in the chain of survival are early recognition and early CPR; yet EMS services do not arrive to the scene of a medical call for on average 7 minutes. Emergency dispatchers are generally the first trained individuals involved in medical emergencies; they can provide pre-arrival instructions, specifically telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR), and represent the potential to double the bystander CPR rate and increase return of spontaneous circulation. Yet, according to survey data, fewer than half of all public safety answering points (PSAPs) provide any T-CPR and even fewer provide hands-only CPR instruction.1 This article will provide a brief overview, history and introduction to the evidence supporting the use of T-CPR to improve outcomes in OHCA.

Emergency medical technician education and training.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) training and education are vital and vibrant aspects of a young and evolving profession. This article provides a perspective on this effort in the United States and reviews current activity in Rhode Island.

Death within 48 hours of admission to the emergency department: the value of autopsy.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that contribute to patient death within 48 hours of admission to the emergency department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of the patients who died within 48 hours of admission to the emergency department, from the years 2000 to 2003. The antemortem diagnosis and postmortem diagnosis were compared. RESULTS: A total of 189 autopsies were performed. The mean age at death for men (41.4 years) was lower than that for women (48.6) (p = 0.02). In both men and women, cardiac system involvement was the leading cause of death (27.5%), with myocardial infarction at 21.2%. The other common causes of death for both genders were blunt trauma (20.1%), intoxication with alcohol and/or other drugs (13.8%), penetrating trauma (gunshot or stab injuries) (13.2%), pulmonary thromboembolism (7.9%), and death caused by other respiratory causes (7.4%). Death caused by pulmonary thromboembolism was more common in women, whereas death caused by strokes, burns, and penetrating trauma were seen almost exclusively in men. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found a considerable concordance between the presumed antemortem cause of death and the postmortem findings. Although the mean age of death caused by myocardial infarction in our study was 52.45 years, MI caused a significant number of deaths among adults younger than 40 years of age.