Evaluation of Telephone Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Performance in Current Practice in Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a global health problem with a low survival rate. Telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) guidance by emergency medical services (EMS) dispatchers can improve CPR performance and, consequently, survival rates. Accordingly, the American Heart Association (AHA) has released performance standards for T-CPR in current practice to improve its quality.

Leakage current from transvenous and subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs): A risk to the rescuer?

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are a well-established therapy for patients at risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. With rising implant rates, the risk of a rescuer performing chest compressions during discharge is increasing, leading to concerns over rescuer safety from the resultant leakage current. More recently, subcutaneous ICDs (S-ICD) have been developed, which utilise a higher energy and more superficial electrodes compared with transvenous ICDs (T-ICD), raising safety concerns further.

Achieving safe hands-on defibrillation using electrical safety gloves--a clinical evaluation.

Introduction: Safe hands-on defibrillation (HOD) will allow uninterrupted chest compression during defibrillation and may improve resuscitation success. We tested the ability of electrical insulating gloves to protect the rescuer during HOD using a 'worst case' electrical scenario.

Materials And Method: Leakage current flowing from the patient to the 'rescuer' during antero-lateral defibrillation of patients undergoing elective cardioversion was measured.