Should time from cardiac arrest until call to emergency medical services (EMS) be collected in EMS research?
” (AHRQ grant HS08197). Critical Care Medicine 30, pp. S127-S130. Whether or not data on the time from cardiac arrest until a call is made to emergency medical services (EMS) should be collected in EMS research depends on several factors, notes this author. He conducted a simulation study to quantify the impact that such data might have on estimates of the relationship between time from a person collapsing to defibrillation and probability of survival. He found that in the absence of bias (for example, faulty witness recall of the time that it took from collapse until the call was placed), an underestimate of the slope on the order of 20 to 30 percent might be expected. However, in the presence of bias, the impact on the slope estimate is unpredictable. The most likely bias (distraught family members who tend to overestimate how long it takes EMS to arrive) would tend to cause an overestimate of the slope. Thus, the author suggests that, unless the time from collapse to placing the 911
Related Questions
- If sudden cardiac arrest does occur in our community , isn’t it the responsibility of emergency medical services ?
- Should time from cardiac arrest until call to emergency medical services (EMS) be collected in EMS research?
- If sudden cardiac arrest does occur in at work, isn’t it the responsibility of emergency medical services ?
