-
Dutch incidence (crude and standardised for age) of out-of-hospital circulatory arrest (OHCA).
-
In about half of the OHCAs needing resuscitation the alert system is activated.
-
Resuscitation proved to be justified in about half of the notifications.
-
Volunteers are notified 1.3 times per year on average.
-
Survival following OHCA is related to volunteer density.
Introduction
Methods
Setting
Resuscitation volunteer network
Data collection
Statistical analysis
Results
Characteristics of citizen rescuers
Incidence of OHCA
Coverage of the system of patients needing resuscitation
Reason | n (%) |
---|---|
No OHCA setting yet | 168 (47.9) |
Zip code not known | 54 (15.4) |
(Semi) medical help already at location | 31 (8.8) |
Onsite AED and rescuers at location | 30 (8.5) |
Bad prognosis evident | 14 (4.0) |
OHCA not recognised by dispatcher | 3 (0.9) |
Patient with known DNR policy | 3 (0.9) |
Other reasonsa | 14 (4.0) |
Reason unknown | 34 (9.7) |
Frequency of justified volunteer notifications
Volunteer density and survival
Volunteer density (%) | Survival with no responders (%, n) | Survival with at least one responder (%, n) | Gain in survival (%) | OHCA with at least one responder (%, n) |
---|---|---|---|---|
<0.25 | 18.2 (6/33) | 20.6 (7/34) | 2.4 | 51 (34/67) |
0.25–0.49 | 11.8 (4/34) | 15.9 (11/69) | 4.1 | 67 (69/103) |
0.50–0.74 | 17.9 (7/39) | 30.2 (29/96) | 12.3 | 71 (96/135) |
≥0.75 | 16.0 (4/25) | 34.8 (32/92) | 18.8 | 79 (92/117) |