Cardiac arrest & resuscitation
Does the initial description of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest given by callers contacting Emergency Medical Services contain key indicator words which can be used to support appropriate resource deployment?
Authors' conclusion
Analysis of information volunteered by an EMS caller may be able to predict clinical outcome, particularly for patients who have resuscitation withheld on EMS arrival.
Study context
- Population
- Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) calls to a single English Emergency Medical Services (EMS), 01/04/2020–31/03/2023
- Participants
- 37,532 OHCA electronic health records
- Outcome
- Terms in callers' initial descriptions associated with patient clinical outcome:
- Resuscitation withheld
- Survival to 30 days
- Follow-up
- 30 days
Methodological detailssingle EMS, linked call data and clinical records
- Single EMS
- Linked call data and clinical records
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- 'Lifeless' descriptors with stronger association with resuscitation being withheld
- 13
- Calls with 'Lifeless' descriptors still receiving the highest level of EMS response
- 56.6%
- Terms with better association with survival to 30 days (often symptoms, e.g. "chest pain", "sweating")
- 4
- Chi-square significance for both subgroups
- p < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Does the initial description of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest given by callers contacting Emergency Medical Services contain key indicator words which can be used to support appropriate resource deployment? Resuscitation. Published 17 March 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →