What did we learn from the time registration in the Belgian Cardio-Pulmonary-Cerebral Resuscitation registry?
It is well known that in a case of cardiac arrest a fast intervention is essential for the survival of the victim. All research on resuscitation therefore contains some reference to intervention times. In the past it was difficult to compare the results of different studies. This problem has however been overcome by the publication of the Utstein Guidelines, as these guidelines emphasize on a correct and complete time registration with uniform definitions of the different time intervals. As the Belgian Cardio-Pulmonary-Cerebral Resuscitation Study Group tries to collect all these time intervals we are able to present the complete performance of the interventions for cardiac arrest of five registration centres and to identify weak points in our 'chain of survival'.
Vanhaute
O
O
Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Gent, Belgium.
Calle
P
P
D001530:Belgium; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors