PALS training Tag

Most nursing home staff do not support performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on elderly residents who suffer sudden cardiac arrest, as most patients' health will not improve sufficiently for them to return to the facility, according to new research. While most nursing homes have policies to administer CPR, a survey of aged-care facility managers in Australia found fewer than one in five thought cardiac arrest patients should be revived if their hearts stopped. The results of the study carried out late last year and...

Progress on curbing the leading killer of athletes―sudden cardiac death―by spotting heart problems early, has been slow. But the development of a series of online tutorials for sports and cardiology doctors looks set to reverse this trend. The tutorials, which are free to any doctor around the globe, thanks to the backing of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) and FIFA, aim to teach physicians how to read heart monitor tracings (ECGs) and spot abnormalities linked to potentially fatal...

A new NCAA-funded research study supports the addition of electrocardiogram (ECG) screening to the standardized pre-participation exams for athletes to better identify cardiac abnormalities that lead to sudden cardiac death (SCD) -- the leading cause of death in athletes during sport. Currently, ECG screening is not a required component of physical exams for NCAA athletes; however, according to NCAA estimates, nearly a dozen college student-athletes in the US suffer sudden cardiac arrest each year. Results support that ECG screening in NCAA athletes...

The Memphis Fire Department is installing new hands-free CPR compression machines in all ambulances after a successful trial period. Fire officials say the department is among the first big-city agencies to install the device, called a Lucas 2, into every ambulance. The action comes after a trial run that began in October. Deputy Chief Gary Ludwig told The Commercial Appeal that Lucas 2 was used 166 times and revived 38 patients, giving it a success rate of 23 percent. That's a big...

The drinks, which often contain large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants like taurine, raise blood pressure and could raise the chance of having an irregular heartbeat, a panel of doctors concluded after looking at results from seven studies. The US doctors said the evidence energy drinks raised blood pressure was “convincing and concerning”. Specifically, they found energy drinks raised systolic blood pressure by 3.5 points. It also lengthened a phase of the heart’s electrical cycle called the ‘QT interval’. Having a...

More should be done to improve the survival rate for the 200,000 adults and children who have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year, the American Heart Association said. One problem is the assumption that the advances in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest care directly apply to in-hospital arrests, "with no consideration given to the different causes and burden of comorbidities," according to an AHA consensus statement. It may be better for the science of resuscitation if in-hospital and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest guidelines weren't "lumped"...