Description of Abnormal Breathing Is Associated With Improved Outcomes and Delayed Telephone Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Instructions.

ABSTRACT: Emergency 9-1-1 callers use a wide range of terms to describe abnormal breathing in persons with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). These breathing descriptors can obstruct the telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) process. We conducted an observational study of emergency call audio recordings linked to confirmed OHCAs in a statewide Utstein-style database. Breathing descriptors fell into 1 of 8 groups (eg, gasping, snoring). We divided the study population into groups with and without descriptors for abnormal breathing to investigate the impact of these descriptors on patient outcomes and telephone CPR process. Callers used descriptors in 459 of 2411 cases (19.0%) between October 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014. Survival outcome was better when the caller used a breathing descr

SUBMITTER: Fukushima H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5634247 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature