Running Head : Cardiac Arrest

Attention Catcher / Listener Relevance: Are you ready to save someone’s life. Just imagine you’re walking down a street or park and you see a person just collapse. You probably run up to the person to check for breathing or a heartbeat. Then call 9-1-1. People who suffered from cardiac arrest are most likely not surrounded by doctors, or nurses, or EMT personnel.

What is cardiac arrest? “According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops beating, resulting in no blood flow to the brain and other vital organs.” .This occurs instantly leading to unexpected death. People tend to confuse a heart attack and cardiac arrest with one another (pause)... a heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest, but they are completely different. What is a heart attack? A heart attack is caused from a blockage of blood flow to the heart muscles. (pause)

Pulling off the ramp, we turned onto Church Hill Road responding on a priority one for the cardiac arrest. I tried to review my field guide en-route to the call, but all I could see were flashing lights reflecting off the guide’s pages and crowds of cars moving over for our wailing sirens. Within three minutes we had arrived on-scene and it was clear that our patient was not in cardiac arrest; however, his 12-Lead EKG and oxygen saturation were marginally reassuring and pointed to an active heart attack. At this point in my EMS training I was a BLS provider, but had adequate knowledge to assist Kathy. Instinctively, I went right to work and loved every second of it. The concept of formulating a differential diagnosis in the field and testing that theory is one of the principle factors that kept drawing my back to EMS. In addition, I developed an unparalleled appetite for knowledge, stemming from my desire to get every differential diagnoses right. Coming to this realization early in my EMS career, we [healthcare providers] frequently forget that patients often lack the medical knowledge provided to us through years of training. Behind CT Scans and MRIs are patients with questions. Having the ability to provide compassion, sympathy and reassurance to a patient is a central part to their recovery and survival; therefore, we [healthcare providers] need to be able to care for our patients on a holistic level, focusing less on the disease and more on the

Encounters with these patients are often begun with law enforcement calling for rescue, as they got a disturbance call first. There have been many reported cases of these patients dying in police custody and it becoming a topic of controversy over police brutality, etc., when in reality these patients were adequately restrained to protect themselves and others. Since the patients can not break free of these restraints, they essentially have an over stimulation of their nervous system, leading to arrhythmias, which leads to cardiac arrest. Other times when these patients end up in cardiac arrest is due to

For an electronic search to be successful it is important to find the right key words or concepts required to retrieve the journal articles as journal articles are indexed and entered onto the databases using keywords (Aveyard, 2014). The keywords for this literature review derived from the research question and synonyms words (Schneider, Elliott, LoBiondo-Wood and Haber, 2004). The keywords identified and retrieved used a combination of the following keywords; CPR, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitat*, famil* and family carer*. The keywords 'family ', 'witnessed

Clipboard and stethoscope in hand, I walked toward the double doors that flashed emergency in bright red letters above. It was my first clinical shift as an EMT student, and first day jitters flittered around in my stomach, I had no idea what to expect. However, I was not expecting to witness the fragility of life. About a half an hour into my shift the rapid response alarm blared through the emergency room. I turned to my preceptor and quizzically asked what this meant. “A rapid response is a patient who is in need of immediate medical care and intervention. As an EMT who is part of the rapid response team you will be expected to assist with vitals and chest compressions. Let’s head toward the recess room, and I’ll explain more there.” Eventually, we reached the recess room, and the rapid response team was already there preparing for the arrival of the patient. A nurse was on the phone with the firefighters that were bringing the patient in. Seconds later she announced “It’s a STEMI”. Then fright ran through my veins. A STEMI is medical jargon for a segment elevation on an EKG. In other words the patient’s coronary artery is completely occluded. The patient is suffering from a heart attack. Prior to this, I had never seen someone who was having a heart attack. However, the thing that terrified me the most was that I knew I would be expected to perform chest compressions. I had only ever performed chest compressions on a dummy.

Charging to 200....Stand clear…Shocking! CPR....EMS providers experience the adrenaline and rush of a patient in cardiac arrest. Trying to bring dead back to life is not a simple task by far, especially with the limitations and resources of the field. But, what happens after the patient makes it to definitive care? Annually, around 300,000 adults in the United States experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (AHA), and EMS providers only see the results of the short term survival of the patient, but rarely the actual patient care and recovery after an arrest. Patients undergo intense, aggressive treatment and recovery measures in the hospital post-code. These patients have a variety of treatment regimens

Upon arrival, I had initially provided support in standing by while the Narcotics team went through the house getting everyone out. I then was asked to assist in search the two female subjects that were detained. While searching the females I went back to my vehicle to grab another set of gloves. While I was doing this, I had seen Officer Fredrick #1111 had one of the subjects identified as Keith Gray W/M (DOB: 07/09/1958) on the ground. Officer Fredrick had advised me the subject just fell face forward. With my EMT medical knowledge I looked at the subject and noticed that he was having what appeared to be

In my paper, I will use this research to support that having trained individuals and providing immediate emergency management can save someone in sudden cardiac arrest. Prescreening is a primary prevention tool for sudden cardiac arrest. If CPR trained individuals weren’t on the scene of the game, the hockey player most likely wouldn’t have survived the sudden cardiac arrest. The survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest is very

The determination of the potential for cardiac arrest is readily apparent in some patients. Patients with the greatest potential for cardiac arrest require close scrutiny for the signs and symptoms of respiratory and hemodynamic instability. This investigation will attempt to determine the best methods of administering high quality chest compressions in CPR. The PICO(T) acronym represents a format that can be used to create an answerable research question. The PICO(T) formulated question for this investigation is: In adult cardiac arrest, will the utilization of automated chest compressions compared to physical chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation improve survival outcomes? PICO(T) components consist of patient population (P), intervention (I), comparison (C), outcome (O) and time (T). The PICO(T) components used to formulate the answerable research question are: Patient population: adults in cardiac

| Lesson Outline: Allocated teacher-NExplaining legal requirements : Duty of care: A duty of care is implied when the person who is requiring your assistance is in your workplace. E.g. patient, co-worker or visitor. Consent of an unresponsive patient is assumed in an emergency situation. (Crouchman, 2009; Milne & Mellman-Jones, 2010).Cultural awareness/sensitivity: We need to mindful of varying cultures when assisting patients, as different cultures prefer to be unexposed which is necessary when defibrillation is required. Eg, Muslims (Hattersley & Keogh, 2009). Confidentiality: Following an emergency situation it is vital to refrain from speaking to others outside the workplace about the patient to ensure the patient’s privacy and dignity. Think about how you would feel if you where in the patient’s situation. (Maeder, Martin-Sanchez, Croll, & Ambrosoli, 2012)?Limitations: Remember that once you start you can’t stop until you’re physically unable to or help arrivesDebriefing: Participating in the debriefing process is vital due to the enormity of the situation, enabling the nurse to express

Approximately three hundred thousand cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, making it one of the leading causes of death nationally (1). Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) is one of the most common forms of cardiac arrest and is generally associated with poor patient outcomes. It has been widely theorized that a focused cardiac ultrasound exam (FoCUS) can play both a diagnostic and a prognostic role during PEA cardiac arrest; however, it has not been adequately studied to-date. This paper explores the theory and current evidence supporting the utilization of a FoCUS exam during cardiac arrest presenting with PEA in order to recognize its potential role in resuscitative guidelines.

Without early intervention on average 360,000 people out of the hospital succumb to cardiac arrest. “ Cardiac arrest and sudden death account for 60 percent of all deaths from coronary artery disease”,(Bledsoe, Porter, & Cherry, 2011,2007,2004, p. 1229)There are several causes of sudden cardiac arrest. Most are caused by ventricular fibrillation. “During ventricular fibrillation, the ventricles do not beat normally. Instead they quiver rapidly and irregularly.” When this occurs, the heart pumps very little and blood does not get circulated throughout the body. “ Most of the cases found with sudden cardiac death are related to undetected cardiovascular disease.("Sudden Cardiac Death," 2015, para. 2)Sudden cardiac arrest are immediate and drastic that includes sudden collapse, no pulse, not breathing, and loss of consciousness. “Four rhythms produce pulseless cardiac arrest: ventricular fibrillation, rapid ventricular tachycardia, pulseless electrical activity and asystole.”("Circulation ," 2005, p. IV-58)Other signs and symptoms that could occur prior to sudden cardiac arrest, include fatigue,

Disaster management results in a holistic approach; perplexing enough a disaster isn't defined by the overhead, rather the viewer becomes the author. Considering this, many disasters, diminutive and extensive, result in the cardiac arrest of victims, complicating the prehospital environment. Therefore, presenting a myriad of issues, such as placing advanced airways, appropriate breathing with a bag valve mask, and fostering an environment to which minimal interruptions to CPR can occur. Throughout the proposed research, the above items will be addressed and taken out of practice — leading to a cohesive emergency environment.

My supervisor, one of the head nurses, hurriedly pulled me to the corner of the bleach white hospital room and directed me to put on gloves, an eye mask, and a face mask. I felt as if I was preparing for war as I put on all of the required gear. The sound of expensive shoes click-clacked down the hallway indicating the arrival of two doctors who rushed into the room and shouted out orders to the staff while pulling the doors to the room shut along with the curtains. Two doctors, eight nurses, an intern, and a dying patient squeezed into the already claustrophobic ten by fifteen-foot room. The machine monitoring the patient’s vital signs continued to beep incessantly as my heart rate accelerated. Throughout my internship, I had never seen a patient in critical condition until that moment. I remembered my teacher’s advice if we were ever in a situation such as this: take a few deep breaths and sit down if you feel like you’re going to pass out. In that