Abstract 308: Metropolitan Police First-Responder Defibrillation Significantly Increases Survival Rates

Abstract

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is one of the most common causes of death in western, industrialized countries. The hospital discharge rate after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA with cardiac etiology and first monitored rhythm shockable) was 2011 24.7% in Vienna (Austria). The overall bystander CPR rate was 42% and in only 4% of the cases an AED was used by laypeople. Therefore, we wanted to assess whether a police first responder program with immediately initiated resuscitation measures (chest compression and use of an AED within the first three minutes) may increase survival rates after SCA in the Austrian capital. Methods: The police forces in Vienna were provided with 112 AEDs (52 in police cars / 60 at police stations) and CPR plus AED training. Emergency dispatching was organized such as AED-equipped police (P-AED) and conventional emergency medical service (EMS) responders were simultaneously dispatched to patients with assumed cardiac arrest. One month survival states of cardiac arrest victims provided with P-AED were compared to patient outcomes when EMS was the sole responder. Results: From August 2013 to April 2014, a 50% hospital discharge rate was observed for victims with initial ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the P-AED group, compared to 26% for standard EMS treatment. However, the overall survival benefit was diluted by the fact - that 75% of the initial rhythms were non-shockable, reducing the absolute survival to 10%. There have been 701 OHCA in this time, but due to lack of information, only 654 were included in the study. Figure 1 shows the outcome in detail. Conclusion: Use of AEDs by police first responders significantly increases survival and hospital discharge in VF patients. There was no benefit for victims with non-shockable rhythms yet. Further campaigning will be necessary, to increase the number of police first responder commitments and to implement an Austria wide P-AED system.