It’s Official! With Cardiac Arrests the Actions of Members of the Public Make the Biggest Difference.

A Big Thumbs-Up to our Wonderful Ambulance Service

The short article, below, has been reproduced from the website of  West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and relates to a research trial which started in December 2014 and lasted for three years. The results were made available in late 2018. The important message which came out of it for US ALL is highlighted in bold in the paragraphs below.

Trust nominated for prestigious research award

 
by OfficialWMAS

Murray MacGregor – Tuesday 16th July 2019 – 10.25am.

West Midlands Ambulance Service has been nominated for a prestigious award that recognises the huge level of input that the Trust has in pre-hospital research.

The Awards celebrate the contribution AHPs (Allied Health Professions) have made in supporting improvements in health, care and wellbeing.

The Trust made it through from over 200 nominations to the final of the AHP Research Impact category for its part in the ground breaking PARAMEDIC 2 research project which looked at the use of adrenaline in cardiac arrest cases.

The project which was run by Warwick Clinical Trials Unit also involved North East, South Central, London and the Welsh ambulance services.

WMAS Research Paramedic, Josh Miller, said: “We were nominated by Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, for the way in which we overcame the challenges of delivering research during cardiac arrests, which are our most serious 999 calls.

“Adrenaline is a medicine which has been used in cardiac arrest for many years, but which the PARAMEDIC2 study showed that although it helps restart the heart it can increase the risk of brain damage.

“The biggest thing that improves survival is the early recognition of a cardiac arrest by members of the public, people at the scene immediately starting CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and having access to and using a defibrillator as soon as possible.

“It also showed that ambulance staff can conduct high-quality research in the most challenging of circumstances.

“There is no doubt that the results will improve patient care; it shows that it is not the advanced treatments by ambulance staff that improves cardiac arrest survival; it is the actions of members of the public that makes the biggest difference.

“This is why it is so vital that everyone learns how to do CPR and we increase the number of public access defibs in our communities.”

There are many courses available on how to learn CPR, but below, Community Response Manager Cliff Medlicott shows you what is involved:

(You can learn much more about Basic Life Support and get hands-on experience at any of our ‘CPR Counts’ free two-hour courses: Application Forms For Courses )