Algorithms to guide ambulance clinicians in the management of emergencies in patients with implanted rotary left ventricular assist devices.

Advances in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy have resulted in increasing numbers of adult LVAD recipients in the community. However, device failure, stroke, bleeding, LVAD thrombosis and systemic infection can be life-threatening emergencies. Currently, four LVAD systems are implanted in six UK transplant centres, each of which provides device-specific information to local emergency services. This has resulted in inconsistent availability and content of information with the risks of delayed or inappropriate decision-making. In order to improve patient safety, a consortium of UK healthcare professionals with expertise in LVADs developed universally applicable prehospital emergency algorithms. Guidance was framed as closely as possible on the standard ABCDE approach to the assessment of critically ill patients.

Basics in advanced life support: a role for download audit and metronomes.

An intention in 2003 to undertake a multicentre trial in the United Kingdom of compressions before and after defibrillation could not be realized because of concerns at the time in relation to informed consent. Instead, the new protocol was introduced in one ambulance service, ahead of the 2005 Guidelines, with greater emphasis on compressions. The results were monitored by analysis of electronic ECG downloads. Deficiencies in the standard of basic life support were identified but were not unique to our service. The introduction of metronomes and the provision of feedback to crews led to major improvements in performance. Our experience has implications for the emergency pre-hospital care of cardiac arrest.

Utstein-style audit of Protocol C: a non-standard resuscitation protocol for healthcare professionals.

INTRODUCTION: International guidelines for basic life support and defibrillation are identical for lay people and healthcare professionals. In 2002, a small meeting hosted by the Resuscitation Council (UK) debated recent advances in resuscitation science, along with the possibility of more demanding procedures for treating out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) that could take advantage of the expertise available with professional use. The resulting algorithm known as Protocol C could not be tested in a randomized trial for reasons relating to consent, but was introduced by one ambulance service as an observational study. Results from a 2-year period from one city within the service area are presented, using the Utstein style of reporting to show the recommended 'comparator' group whilst also providing epidemiological data on the frequency of cardiac arrest within the community and the outcome of all resuscitation attempts. METHODS: Manual methods were used to collect data from 2009 and 2010 for cases of cardiac arrest treated by crews from the two ambulance stations within the city of Brighton and Hove. All transported patients were tracked individually through the hospital because no official method of data linkage is available. Outcome data were obtained for survival to hospital discharge, or to 30 days for the few who remained in hospital care for that duration. RESULTS: In the epidemiological analysis, 454 patients with OHCA were treated over 2 years, of whom 151 (33%) had sustained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at hospital handover and 59 (13%) survived to discharge or for 30 days. Within the 'comparator' group of 79 patients, 47 (59%) achieved sustained ROSC to hospital handover and 24 (30%) survived. CONCLUSION: The use of Protocol C has been associated with rates of sustained ROSC to hospital and of survival to discharge that have reached the range of international best practice. The improvement noted in this observational study cannot be ascribed to the new protocol alone; any wider use should await randomized trials to test the impact of this single variable. Meanwhile, wider adoption of the Utstein system to compare results for treatment of OHCA will provide a potent stimulus for emergency services to seek ways of improving outcome.