Timing and Identification of the Cause and Treatment of a Cardiac Arrest: A Potential Survival Benefit.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate how mobile medical teams (MMTs) search for the etiology of a cardiac arrest (CA) and to investigate the association between the discovery of etiology and patient outcome.

Subjects And Methods: Resuscitations of all adult patients who experienced an in- or out-of-hospital CA between 2016 and 2018 were video recorded. All video recordings were reviewed.

Measuring non-technical skills during prehospital advanced cardiac life support: A pilot study.

Aim: To analyse non-technical skills of mobile medical teams during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) using the validated Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) tool. To research the correlation between non-technical skills and patient outcome.

Methods: Adult patients who experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between July 2016, and June 2018, and were treated by a mobile medical team from the University Hospital Leuven, were eligible for the study.

Drug use during adult advanced cardiac life support: An overview of reviews.

Aim: To conduct an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to summarize the ever-growing evidence on drug use during advanced life support.

Methods: We searched Embase, Medline, Cochrane central register of controlled trials and Web of science for systematic reviews and meta-analyses reporting on drug use during advanced life support from inception to March, 2020. Two reviewers independently assessed all abstracts for eligibility, extracted data and assessed risk of bias using the AMSTAR-2 tool.

Assessment of chest compression interruptions during advanced cardiac life support.

Aim: To identify potentially avoidable factors responsible for chest compression interruptions and to evaluate the influence of chest compression fraction on achieving return of spontaneous circulation and survival to hospital discharge.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, each resuscitation managed by mobile medical teams from August 1st, 2016, to August 1st, 2018 was video recorded using a body-mounted GoPro camera. The duration of all chest compression interruptions was recorded and chest compression fraction was calculated.

Stress levels of Flemish emergency medicine residents and the implications for clinical practice and education.

Background: mergency physicians are often confronted with challenging situations. As acute stress can adversely affect the health of physicians and the safety of patients, both could benefit from the integration of performance psychology insights in the education of physicians. A better understanding of stress is a prerequisite for the successful integration of a stress management program into residency training.

A systematic review of current ECPR protocols. A step towards standardisation.

Aim: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) can treat cardiac arrest refractory to conventional therapies. Our goal was to identify the best protocol for survival with good neurological outcome through the evaluation of current inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, cannulation strategies and additional therapeutic measures.

Methods: A systematic literature search was used to identify eligible publications from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane for articles published from 29 June 2009 until 29 June 2019.

Impact of video-recording on patient outcome and data collection in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

Background: Most research on out-of-hospital resuscitation relies on data collection from medical records. However, the data in medical records are often inaccurate.

Objective: To compare the data registration of the medical record with the data from the video recorded resuscitation and study the impact of video recording during resuscitation on the outcome.

The Effect of Teaching Nontechnical Skills in Advanced Life Support: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of nontechnical skills (NTS) training on performance in advanced life support (ALS) simulation. Furthermore, we aimed to determine the ideal frequency of training sessions for an optimal retention and the value of debriefing.

Methods: A systematic search was performed using PubMed, EMBASE, WoS, ERIC, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library conducted through August 1, 2018.

The prognostic value of early lactate clearance for survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Background: Prognostication of survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains challenging with current guidelines recommending the prognostication no earlier than 72 h after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Prognostic factors that could be used earlier after ROSC, like lactate clearance, are still being studied.

Objectives: This paper aims to investigate the prognostic strength of early lactate clearance for survival after OHCA.

Pulseless Electrical Activity: Detection of Underlying Causes in a Prehospital Setting.

The proportion of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) with pulseless electrical activity (PEA) as initial rhythm is increasing. PEA should be managed by identifying the underlying cause of the arrest and treating it accordingly. This often poses a challenge in the chaotic prehospital environment with only limited resources available.

Phone CPR and barriers affecting life-saving seconds.

: Phone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) increases the rate of bystander CPR to patients suffering from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This study analyzed the effectiveness of the ALERT protocol for instructing laypeople in bystander CPR.: All 244 phone CPR calls to the emergency medical communication center in Leuven during a one-year period were analyzed.

A prolonged QTc-interval at the emergency department: Should we always be prepared for the worst?

Introduction: QTc-interval prolongation is associated with ventricular arrhythmias and mortality in a general population. Bazett's correction formula (QTcB) is routinely used despite its overcorrection at high heart rates. Recently, we proposed a patient-specific QT correcting algorithm (QTcA) resulting in improved rate correction and predictive value in a general population.