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Colorado Compendium
(97) Quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Wik L, Kramer-Johansen J, Myklebust H, Sorebo H, Svensson L, Fellows B, Steen PA.
JAMA. 2005 Jan 19;293(3):299-304.
Original Research – Case Series
This case series reviewed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients older than 18 years of age. The
authors fitted AEDs with an additional chest pad to be mounted on the sternum that had an
accelerometer and a pressure meter attached. The rescuer’s hand was placed on the chest pad,
and the assumption was made that the mechanics applied to the chest pad also applied to the
patient’s chest. A second accelerometer was placed within the defibrillator, so by subtraction of
the defibrillator’s accelerometer’s readings, only the sternal pads movements could be studied.
The researchers examined several outcome variables which included ROSC, “admitted alive to
hospital”, and “discharged alive from hospital”.
The mean compression rate was too high (120 compressions per minute) and the depth was too
shallow (35 mm). The authors note that a significant amount of the delay in receiving
compressions was secondary to defibrillator analysis (66%) and that ACLS guidelines are not
being followed.
Reviewed by Kurt Whitaker
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