In sudden cardiac arrest, every minute counts. Police officers can be the best lifesavers in such cases. They are often faster on the scene than the emergency physicians. A Spanish study has now shown that first aid training and automatic defibrillators in police vehicles can increase the survival rate of those affected by ten percent.
“Police officers as first responders improve survival rates in sudden cardiac arrest outside hospitals,” said Diego Reyero, an emergency physician at the rescue of the Spanish province of Navarra, and his co-authors, including anesthesiologist Robert Greif, who works in Bern and also on the Sigmund Freud Private University teaches in Vienna, her current scientific work in the journal BMC Emergency Medicine.
Everyone should know first aid
Without appropriate help, cardiac arrest leads to brain death within minutes. In the worst case, CPR attempts should begin immediately, ideally using an automated defibrillator. Therefore, if possible, everyone should be trained in first aid and be able to take action in case of an emergency. Quickly accessible depots in public places can improve the situation. Ambulances always need a certain amount of time to arrive at the scene.
For example, a 2019 study by the Medical University of Vienna found that in Vienna, the survival rate after cardiac arrest is approximately equal during the day and at night thanks to a well-functioning rescue chain. The survival rate without subsequent disability for the evaluated observation period between 2013 and 2015 (1811 patients) was twelve percent in the federal capital.
In the Spanish study, the authors investigated who was the first to attempt resuscitation etc. in cases of sudden cardiac arrest in the province of Navarra and with what success. In total, data from 628 affected people were analyzed – almost three quarters of the patients were male, the mean age was 65 years. It turned out that law enforcement officers and “laymen” present at the scene of an emergency can make a decisive contribution to the survival of those affected by providing immediate assistance. “Overall patient survival was 17.8 percent for police officers as first responders, 17.4 percent for other first responders, and 13.5 percent for emergency room physicians.”
Early intervention increases survival rate by more than 10%
Crucial is the time between a patient’s cardiac arrest and circulatory recovery. The scientists: “If the police arrived first and before the emergency doctor started CPR, the officers arrived on average 5.4 minutes earlier. This early intervention by police officers resulted in a 10.1 percent higher survival rate.”
The benefits of proper first aid training for police officers and the presence of automated DEFIs in wards and on patrol cars are highly valued by scientists. The reasons for this: The police have a large workforce, are perfectly trained for acute operations, have privileged access and can make a decisive contribution with good training and equipment (automatic defibrillators).
Viennese police officers have a ‘defi duty’ every day
In Austria, about 12,000 people die of sudden cardiac death every year. An example of activities such as those in Spain is the Vienna police. The company has had defibrillators since 2004. In 2022, it reported 120 equipped patrol cars and devices across departments (251 in total). As early as 2017, the Viennese police reported a ‘defi operation’ every other day of the year.
Just a few days ago, cardiologist Matthias Hindborg from Nordsjaellands Hospital (Hillerroed) in Denmark reported on the analysis of information from the Danish cardiac arrest registry for the years 2016 to 2020 at the annual conference of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC/Amsterdam) 7,471 people over the age of 18 who suffered a cardiac arrest outside hospitals in the country.
In 14.7 percent (1,098 of 7,471 patients), defibrillation was performed by lay assistants before the ambulance arrived. Overall, 44.5 percent (489 of 1,098) of these patients survived the first 30 days after the event, compared to 18.8 percent (1,200 of 6,73) who did not receive immediate defibrillation. Using Defi quickly before an emergency doctor arrived increased the survival rate of those affected by 37 percent, even if the emergency ambulance arrived within two to four minutes of the event.
With a rescue time of four to six minutes, the survival rate increased by 55 percent when using an automated external defibrillator (AED). In some cases, it increased more than double with rapid use of Defi by bystanders over a period of up to 25 minutes until a rescue team arrived (for example, by a factor of 2.23 for six to eight minutes until the emergency physician arrived or almost exactly double ). 25 minutes).
Source: Krone
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