ABSTRACT
Early interventions of laypersons can improve the survival and neurological outcome in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. There are several organizations in Austria which train lay people in basic life support and raise awareness for sudden cardiac death. To obtain an overview of the various initiatives, a questionnaire was sent to 26 organizations, and 15 of the organizations (58%) replied. The geographical distribution of the organizations between rural and urban areas was illustrated in a map. Most of them are situated in a university city, resulting in accessibility disparities for individuals in urban and rural settings. Layperson resuscitation education in Austria is largely dependent on the individual commitments of volunteers. The time spent practicing chest compressions in resuscitation courses ranges from 25% to 90% of the total course time. Furthermore, reasons for a lack of scientific endeavours could be identified, and solutions are suggested. Through better networking between organizations and initiatives, more laypersons could be trained in the future, which would lead to improved survival chances for persons suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Austria. Appropriate support by political bodies and public authorities is and will remain a key element.
ABSTRACT
The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has produced these Systems Saving Lives guidelines, which are based on the 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Science with Treatment Recommendations. The topics covered include chain of survival, measuring performance of resuscitation, social media and smartphones apps for engaging community, European Restart a Heart Day, World Restart a Heart, KIDS SAVE LIVES campaign, lower-resource setting, European Resuscitation Academy and Global Resuscitation Alliance, early warning scores, rapid response systems, and medical emergency team, cardiac arrest centres and role of dispatcher.
