Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response
Objectives: A previous study showed that Norwegian GPs on call attended around 40% of out-of-hospital medical emergencies. We wanted to investigate the alarms of prehospital medical resources and the doctors' responses in situations of potential cardiac arrests. Design and setting: A three-mont...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02813432.2016.1160630 |
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doaj-411f7cfd1afa4348a96fb02a708148fd2020-11-24T22:52:11ZengTaylor & Francis GroupScandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care0281-34321502-77242016-04-0134213013410.3109/02813432.2016.11606301160630Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical responseErik Zakariassen0Steinar Hunskaar1Uni Research HealthUni Research HealthObjectives: A previous study showed that Norwegian GPs on call attended around 40% of out-of-hospital medical emergencies. We wanted to investigate the alarms of prehospital medical resources and the doctors' responses in situations of potential cardiac arrests. Design and setting: A three-month prospective data collection was undertaken from three emergency medical communication centres, covering a population of 816,000 residents. From all emergency medical events, a sub-group of patients who received resuscitation, or who were later pronounced dead at site, was selected for further analysis. Results: 5,105 medical emergencies involving 5,180 patients were included, of which 193 met the inclusion criteria. The GP on call was alarmed in 59 %, and an anaesthesiologist in 43 % of the cases. When alarmed, a GP attended in 84 % and an anaesthesiologist in 87 % of the cases. Among the patients who died, the GP on call was alarmed most frequently. Conclusion: Events involving patients in need of resuscitation are rare, but medical response in the form of the attendance of prehospital personnel is significant. Norwegian GPs have a higher call-out rate for patients in severe situations where resuscitation was an option of treatment, compared with other “red-response” situations. Key Points This study investigates alarms of and call-outs among GPs and anaesthesiologists on call, in the most acute clinical situations: Medical emergencies involving patients in need of resuscitation were rare. The health care contribution by pre-hospital personnel being called out was significant. Compared with other acute situations, the GP had a higher attendance rate to patients in life-threatening situations.http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02813432.2016.1160630Emergency medical servicesgeneral practicegeneral practitionerNorwaypre-hospital emergency careprimary health careresuscitation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Erik Zakariassen Steinar Hunskaar |
spellingShingle |
Erik Zakariassen Steinar Hunskaar Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care Emergency medical services general practice general practitioner Norway pre-hospital emergency care primary health care resuscitation |
author_facet |
Erik Zakariassen Steinar Hunskaar |
author_sort |
Erik Zakariassen |
title |
Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
title_short |
Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
title_full |
Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
title_fullStr |
Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
title_full_unstemmed |
Potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
title_sort |
potential cardiac arrest – an observational study of pre-hospital medical response |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
series |
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care |
issn |
0281-3432 1502-7724 |
publishDate |
2016-04-01 |
description |
Objectives: A previous study showed that Norwegian GPs on call attended around 40% of out-of-hospital medical emergencies. We wanted to investigate the alarms of prehospital medical resources and the doctors' responses in situations of potential cardiac arrests. Design and setting: A three-month prospective data collection was undertaken from three emergency medical communication centres, covering a population of 816,000 residents. From all emergency medical events, a sub-group of patients who received resuscitation, or who were later pronounced dead at site, was selected for further analysis. Results: 5,105 medical emergencies involving 5,180 patients were included, of which 193 met the inclusion criteria. The GP on call was alarmed in 59 %, and an anaesthesiologist in 43 % of the cases. When alarmed, a GP attended in 84 % and an anaesthesiologist in 87 % of the cases. Among the patients who died, the GP on call was alarmed most frequently. Conclusion: Events involving patients in need of resuscitation are rare, but medical response in the form of the attendance of prehospital personnel is significant. Norwegian GPs have a higher call-out rate for patients in severe situations where resuscitation was an option of treatment, compared with other “red-response” situations. Key Points This study investigates alarms of and call-outs among GPs and anaesthesiologists on call, in the most acute clinical situations: Medical emergencies involving patients in need of resuscitation were rare. The health care contribution by pre-hospital personnel being called out was significant. Compared with other acute situations, the GP had a higher attendance rate to patients in life-threatening situations. |
topic |
Emergency medical services general practice general practitioner Norway pre-hospital emergency care primary health care resuscitation |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02813432.2016.1160630 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT erikzakariassen potentialcardiacarrestanobservationalstudyofprehospitalmedicalresponse AT steinarhunskaar potentialcardiacarrestanobservationalstudyofprehospitalmedicalresponse |
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