Cardiac Arrest

Sodium bicarbonate is indicated for select patients including preexisting metabolic acidosis, hyperkalemia, or tricyclic antidepressant overdose. However, many providers are…

Data from the AHA and the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines consistently report neurologic intact survival from pediatric cardiac arrest to be 3% for infants and 10% for children.

A 2-year-old boy has been pulled out of the pool limp and lifeless after a 6-minute submersion.  911 is called and EMS professionals are 7 minutes away.   They hear the tones go off at the station and are dispatched to a “2-year-old in cardiac arrest.”

It’s an exciting time in medicine, specifically pre-hospital care and resuscitative care. As we patiently await the release of the AHA 2015 guidelines, many EMS thought leaders will have already implemented practices and protocols that will differ from AHA recommendations.

We talk about CPR a lot. In the field, at conferences, with industry peers and even on social media. If you follow our social media accounts (and we hope you do, cough cough), you will often see stories about the benefits of CPR. One of the biggest topics we call out, is the importance of CPR administered in pre-hospital situations, since it greatly impacts the chances of a more positive outcome.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has garnered significant attention lately. And for good reason – according to SuddenCardiacArrest.org, it’s a leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming nearly 300,000 deaths each year.