Take Heart America™: A Community-based Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survival Initiative is Saving Lives by Implementing the Most Highly Recommended 2005 American Heart Association Resuscitation Guidelines

Author Block:
Keith Lurie, Advanced Circulatory Systems, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN; Janet Steinkamp, Central Minnesota Heart Center, St. Cloud, MN; Charles Lick, Allina Medical Transportation, St. Paul, MN; Tom Aufderheide, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; Michael Sayre, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Lynn White, Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH; Edward Racht, Louis Gonzales, City of Austin / Travis County EMS System, Austin, TX; Susan Nygaard, Allina Health System, Minneapolis, MN; Robert Niskanen, Resurgent Biomedical Consulting LLC, Shoreline, WA

Abstract:
Introduction: Take Heart America (THA) is a community-based initiative intended to improve survival from sudden, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in four US communities: St. Cloud (MN), Anoka County (MN), Columbus (OH) and Austin (TX).

Hypothesis: Implementing a continuum of resuscitation care that includes the most highly recommended 2005 AHA resuscitation guidelines will improve survival from OHCA.

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Author Block: Keith Lurie, Pam Schnettler, Janet Steinkamp, Joe Hellie, Roberta Basol, Scott Davis, St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, MN

Abstract:
Introduction/Hypothesis: Specialized care after cardiac arrest in Level One Cardiac Arrest Centers (L1CAC) may provide improved care in a cost-effective manner for this gravely ill patient population in an analogous manner to Level One Trauma Centers.

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Implementation of the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines together with the impedance threshold device improves hospital discharge rates after in-hospital cardiac arrest

Scott Davis MD, Ken Thigpen RT, Roberta Basol RN, Tom Aufderheide MD

Background: Survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest (I-HCA) remains low, despite rapid care by trained medical personnel. An estimated 1,000 patients die each day in the United States alone from I-HCA.

Objective: Determine the impact of the 2005 American Heart Association (AHA) resuscitation guidelines and use of an impedance threshold device (ITD) on survival after I-HCA.

Hypothesis: Greater circulation delivered by combining more efficient and effective CPR together with an ITD, recommended in the 2005 AHA Guidelines to increase circulation and return of spontaneous circulation rates during CPR, will increase survival after I-HCA.

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