Benefits of training physicians in advanced cardiac life support.

Unexpected cardiopulmonary arrests occur commonly both in the prehospital setting and in the course of hospital care. Survival after prehospital arrest is improved if bystanders and paramedics are trained in basic and advanced cardiac life support. However, within the hospital, the bystanders are the physicians; it is not known if life support training of these hospital-based physician bystanders leads to improved survival. Therefore, we reviewed the outcome of resuscitation attempts in a teaching hospital during two matching six-month periods, before (period 1) and after (period 2) institution of a mandatory course in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) for medical houseofficers. It was concluded that survival after inhospital cardiopulmonary arrest is significantly increased if house officers who staff the Code teams are trained in ACLS.

[1]  E. Cook,et al.  The decline in ischemic heart disease mortality rates. An analysis of the comparative effects of medical interventions and changes in lifestyle. , 1984, Annals of internal medicine.

[2]  Floyd J. Fowler,et al.  Survey Research Methods , 1984 .

[3]  R. Stewart,et al.  Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: factors associated with survival. , 1984, Annals of emergency medicine.

[4]  E. Cook,et al.  Survival after Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in the Hospital , 1983 .

[5]  S. Greenfield,et al.  The survival benefit of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a paramedic served metropolitan area. , 1983, American journal of public health.

[6]  J. Stross.  Maintaining competency in advanced cardiac life support skills. , 1983, JAMA.

[7]  A Hallstrom,et al.  Long-term survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. , 1982, The New England journal of medicine.

[8]  A. Castellanos,et al.  Survivors of prehospital cardiac arrest. , 1982, JAMA.

[9]  Linda Fisher,et al.  WHY OUTCOME OF CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION IN GENERAL WARDS IS POOR , 1982, The Lancet.

[10]  D. E. Lawrence,et al.  APACHE—acute physiology and chronic health evaluation: a physiologically based classification system , 1981, Critical care medicine.

[11]  M. DeBard,et al.  Cardiopulmonary resuscitation: analysis of six years' experience and review of the literature. , 1981, Annals of emergency medicine.

[12]  M S Eisenberg,et al.  Treatment of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests with rapid defibrillation by emergency medical technicians. , 1980, The New England journal of medicine.

[13]  R. Sung,et al.  Clinical, electrophysiologic and hemodynamic profile of patients resuscitated from prehospital cardiac arrest. , 1980, The American journal of medicine.

[14]  C. Hobel.  U.S.A. , 1980, The Lancet.

[15]  Moser Rh.  Universal CPR: where are the data? , 1979 .

[16]  L. Cobb,et al.  Bystander-initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the management of ventricular fibrillation. , 1979, Annals of internal medicine.

[17]  A. Hallstrom,et al.  Paramedic programs and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: II. Impact on community mortality. , 1979, American journal of public health.

[18]  C. Lambrew,et al.  Evaluation of physician skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. , 1978, JACEP.

[19]  W. Rogers,et al.  Improved Outcome for Prehospital Cardiopulmonary Collapse with Resuscitation by Bystanders , 1977, Circulation.

[20]  M. Mcnicol,et al.  SURVIVAL AFTER CARDIAC ARREST IN HOSPITAL , 1977, The Lancet.

[21]  B. Messert,et al.  CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION Perspectives and Problems , 1976, The Lancet.

[22]  M H Weil,et al.  Factors determining survival in patients with cardiac arrest. , 1974, Chest.

[23]  A. Johnson,et al.  Is cardiac resuscitation worthwhile? A decade of experience. , 1973, The New England journal of medicine.

[24]  Jean G. Lemire,et al.  Is Cardiac Resuscitation Worthwhile , 1972 .

[25]  W. B. Kouwenhoven,et al.  Closed-chest cardiac massage. , 1960, JAMA.