In 2010, paramedics began cooling their cardiac arrest patients with an IV of saline chilled to near freezing. The cooling blunts some of the body's negative responses to a lack of oxygen that results from the arrest, Goodloe said.
Toward the end of 2011, EMSA began training paramedics to perform chest compression on cardiac arrest patients with a metronome to ensure they get as close as possible to the optimal timing.
Soon after, the agency implemented a specific team approach to cardiac arrest responses.
It's similar to a pit crew at a racing track. Every responder has a specific role, depending on how many responders there are. The team approach works for two responders up to six.
Everyone at the scene has a playbook of sorts, said Jason Likens, EMSA paramedic.
"There's no more guesswork on who's going to do what when they get there," he said.
The new methods haven't been difficult to implement and have actually made responding to cardiac arrest a bit easier, he said.
The survival rate for 2010 was 42 percent, up from 38 percent in 2009. The agency expects that practices put into place after 2010 will cause even higher rates for 2011 and 2012, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe, who serves as medical director for EMSA, the Tulsa and Oklahoma City police departments and other agencies in the area.
EMSA already has an above-average cardiac survival rate, he said.
Edited by Rogerdodger, 03 October 2012 - 09:43 PM.
