Author Archives: SWORBHP

New Protocol First Arrest On Route If my patient becomes VSA on route (first arrest) am I to complete the full 20 minutes of resuscitation roadside and then continue transport? Our previous protocol was to complete the full arrest protocol and continue transport. Should you be a short distance from the hospital would a BH patch be suggested or should we perform the 20 mins of resuscitation regardless of proximity to the hospital? Thank you. minutes? I understand the research is trending towards scene times longer than 10 minutes for pediatrics (in some studies) and that earlier epinephrine administration has been associated with ROSC but this also leaves PCP only rural services in a very difficult grey zone to be addressed. I am by no means advocating for a "scoop and run" mentality (the new wording in the directive rules that out quite nicely) but any further guidance or clarification is greatly appreciated!

With the new medical cardiac arrest directive I have multiple questions: 1. If a patient re-arrests after getting a ROSC do we a) start the 20mins over? B) analyze once and then carry on to hospital with no further analyzes, or c) complete the remainder of the initial 20mins of CPR? Also does this answer change if the ROSC is at the initial site or in the back of the ambulance? 2. If patient arrests for the 1st time in the back of the ambulance, do you stop for the whole 20mins of CPR, does location of arrest to hospital make a difference? 3. If you have a refractory v-fib and we start early transport to hospital, do we continue to pull over and shock every 2 mins or so we stop shocking while on route to hospital?

In the latest version of the companion document (v5.1) the following is stated "For a witnessed arrest in the back of the ambulance paramedics should use clinical judgment to decide whether to stay and perform resuscitation or proceed to hospital. Paramedic should perform three full analysis and then proceed/patch or to provide one analysis and go. The paramedic should provide at minimum one analysis. Factors that are part of the decision process include distance to closest hospital, probable cause of arrest, ability to provide adequate CPR/ventilation, shockable vs non-shockable etc..". I was told during my recert in November that this scenario would warrant a 20 minute resuscitation. Can you please clarify.

Can you please clarify the CPR ratio for different ages with the new neonatal resuscitation changed from 30 days to 24 hours. At what age are we performing 3:1 CPR, 15:2. and 30:2?

If My patient goes VSA in the back of the truck ( witnessed, first time VSA). We do not do 20 min CPR? Or we do 3 analysis and go after? And/or 1 analysis and go? Does the same apply witness VSA in the home? Do these require patch to leave early? There has been excessive talk over this and little clarification.

Refractory V-fib for the new medical cardiac VSA directive. Are we to only get our three shocks and go. Or can we give an additional shock if time permits due to extrication or extenuating circumstances? Just looking for clarification.

Can you do chest thrusts on someone who is unresponsive with a DNR?

If we pick up a patient and the patient presents with a positive 12-lead STEMI and you are travelling to the PCI Center and the patient codes, do we run the full 20 minute cardiac arrest protocol, or could you consider STEMI as a reversible cause (H’s and T’s) , analyze once and head to the closest receiving which may not be the PCI due to distance.

Hello, with the changes to PCP medical cardiac arrest, since there is no longer a maximum number of analysis are we expected to continue to analysis the rhythm every two minutes on route to hospital if we’re transporting?. Seems like it would delay our arrival time a fair bit to pull over every two minutes especially in the county. Also, if a confirmed STEMI codes on route, should we be running a full 20 minute resuscitation before continuing transport, or would that be considered a reversible cause to transport after one analysis?. Thanks

The new Medical Cardiac Arrest Directive requires 20 minutes of resuscitation on scene. Point # 5 of the Primary Clinical Consideration(s) states ...or other known reversible cause of arrest not addressed. My question has to do with refractory PEA and the amount of potential reversible causes (7 Hs 5 Ts). Would it be reasonable to patch for request of early transport in the presence of 3 consecutive analysis of PEA?

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