Cardiac arrest teams and time of day: effects on surviving in-hospital resuscitation

• Published in: International journal of general medicine 2014-01, Vol.7 (default), p.319-323
• Main Authors: Christ, Martin, Dierschke, Wolfgang, von Auenmueller, Katharina Isabel, van Bracht, Marc, Grett, Martin, Trappe, Hans-Joachim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Biological rhythms; Cardiac arrest; Cardiac resuscitation; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Care and treatment; CPR; Data collection; Electrocardiography; emergency medicine; Health aspects; Heart; Intensive care; Mortality; Original Research; Patient outcomes; Patients; Standard deviation; Studies; sudden cardiac death; Teams; time of day; Working hours
• ISSN: 1178-7074; 1178-7074
• DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S66609

Little is known about the factors that influence survival following in-hospital resuscitation, but previous investigations have suggested that in-hospital resuscitations outside of regular working hours are associated with worse survival rates. In-hospital cardiac arrest teams at our hospital were instructed to complete a questionnaire following every emergency call between July 2011 and June 2013. Data on all resuscitation attempts were collected and analyzed. A total of 65 in-hospital resuscitations were recorded in 42 males (64.6%) and 23 females (35.4%) (mean age 72.0±14.3 years). A total of 54 (83.1%) cardiac arrests were witnessed; seven (10.8%) showed a shockable rhythm at the time of the first ECG. Resuscitation attempts lasted 29.3±41.3 minutes, and 4.1±3.1 mg epinephrine was given. Return of spontaneous circulation could be achieved in 38 patients (58.5%); 29 (44.6%) survived the first day, 23 (35.4%) the seventh day, and 15 patients (23.1%) were discharged alive. Significantly more in-hospital resuscitations were obtained for those performed during non-regular working hours (P