Emergency Medicine Journal

Updated life-support guidelines were published by the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) in 2010, increasing the required depth and rate of chest compression delivery. This study sought to determine the impact of these guidelines on rescuer fatigue and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance.

62 Health science students performed 5 min of conventional CPR in accordance with the 2010 ERC guidelines. A SkillReporter manikin was used to objectively assess temporal change in determinants of CPR quality. Participants subjectively reported their end-fatigue levels, using a visual analogue scale, and the point at which they believed fatigue was affecting CPR delivery.

49 (79%) participants reported that fatigue affected their CPR performance, at an average of 167 s. End fatigue averaged 49.5/100 (range 0–95). The proportion of chest compressions delivered correctly decreased from 52% in min 1 to 39% in min 5, approaching significance (p=0.071). A significant decline in chest compressions reaching the recommended depth occurred between the first (53%) and fifth (38%) min (p=0.012). Almost half this decline (6%) was between the first and second minutes of CPR. Neither chest compression rate, nor rescue breath volume, were affected by rescuer fatigue.

Fatigue affects chest compression delivery within the second minute of CPR under the 2010 ERC guidelines, and is poorly judged by rescuers. Rescuers should, therefore, be encouraged to interchange after 2 min of CPR delivery. Team leaders should be advised to not rely on rescuers to self-report fatigue, and should, instead, monitor for its effects.

The physician in triage (PIT) strategy was implemented in the emergency department (ED) of the Soroka University Medical Center (SUMC) to improve overcrowding and waiting time. Our objective in the current study was to assess the impact of the PIT strategy on door-to-balloon time for the treatment of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

The PIT programme began on January 2016, working weekdays between 8:00 and 23:00 hours. We included patients who visited the ED and were diagnosed with STEMI, from November 2014 to February 2018. The primary outcome was improvement in door-to-balloon (D2B) time<90 min between the preintervention and postintervention period. The analysis included a comparison between the two time periods using univariate tests, a time trend analysis illustrated by the locally weighted scatterplot smoothing curves and a regression analysis using generalised estimating equation models. To determine the impact of the PIT, as opposed to other changes in the department, we stratified the population arriving after January 2016 to patients arriving during PIT hours versus patients arriving on weekends and at nights (23:00–8:00 hours).

In all, 415 patients met all the inclusion criteria of which 237 (57.1%) visited on weekdays 8:00–23:00 hours. The per cent of patients with D2B<90 min was 13.9% higher for postintervention versus preintervention visits (p=0.006). D2B time was significantly shorter by 9 min for postintervention visits (p=0.001). In the postintervention period, patients arriving between 8:00 and 23:00 hours on weekdays were more likely to have D2B <90 min than those arriving nights and weekends; 90/146 (61.6%) vs 47.2% (51/108), respectively, p=0.02. ORs for D2B<90 min was 2.04 (95% CI 1.06 to 3.91) for weekday visits, and 1.90 (0.88 to 4.12) for weekend and night visits.

The PIT model in SUMC is associated with D2B reduction for patients with STEMI. To achieve further reduction, both targeted interventions should be performed and PIT strategy should be applied for full time, including nights and weekends.