Cardiac arrest and the local emergency cardiac care system

Abstract

With interest we have read the article by Eisenburger about an Austrian study on cardiac arrest and the local emergency cardiac care system [[1]Eisenburger P, Czappek G, Sterz F, Vergeiner G, Losert H, Holzer M, Laggar A. Cardiac arrest patients in an alpine area during a six year period. Resuscitation 2001;51:39-46.Google Scholar]. The special geographical and legal aspects of this particular area are also considered. However, what makes this described region ‘special’? The title is very misleading. ‘Alpine’, is neither clearly defined nor is the area named, nor does this term describe the actual landscape. Austria is in the centre of the Alps. Nonetheless, the area described has an excellent infrastructure. True, Austria has a large amount of mountains and even some remaining wilderness. Is an ‘alpine region’ accessible by an ambulance car? ‘Alpine’ gives an impression of remote, rough and extreme landscape, of mountains and wilderness. Maybe there are a few patients within the study, who suffered from sudden cardiac arrest in the ‘outback’. Yet in the article it becomes clear that the major part of the data arrives from the rural parts of the country. Most rural areas of Austria are served by a high quality Emergency Medical System, with a full infrastructure. The authors have outlined the good situation concerning the Emergency Medical System and infrastructure of this particular region in their article. But the data is not collected in an area which can be described as ‘special’ or ‘alpine’. It is simply collected in an Austrian countryside (unfortunately no further details given by the authors).We would also like to add that early defibrillation carried out by Emergency Medical Technicians in Austria after 1999 is legal. Furthermore, since 1999 early defibrillation can be carried out by laymen under certain circumstances [[2]Frühdefibrillation durch Laien“ Bundesministerium für soziale Sicherheit und Generationen, 21.12.2001.Google Scholar]. This is an important point, which should be specially outlined, as early defibrillation carried out by non-physicians is often still considered illegal or insufficiently defined by law in Austria. Unfortunately this was not mentioned in the article, even though it is written in November 2000. With interest we have read the article by Eisenburger about an Austrian study on cardiac arrest and the local emergency cardiac care system [[1]Eisenburger P, Czappek G, Sterz F, Vergeiner G, Losert H, Holzer M, Laggar A. Cardiac arrest patients in an alpine area during a six year period. Resuscitation 2001;51:39-46.Google Scholar]. The special geographical and legal aspects of this particular area are also considered. However, what makes this described region ‘special’? The title is very misleading. ‘Alpine’, is neither clearly defined nor is the area named, nor does this term describe the actual landscape. Austria is in the centre of the Alps. Nonetheless, the area described has an excellent infrastructure. True, Austria has a large amount of mountains and even some remaining wilderness. Is an ‘alpine region’ accessible by an ambulance car? ‘Alpine’ gives an impression of remote, rough and extreme landscape, of mountains and wilderness. Maybe there are a few patients within the study, who suffered from sudden cardiac arrest in the ‘outback’. Yet in the article it becomes clear that the major part of the data arrives from the rural parts of the country. Most rural areas of Austria are served by a high quality Emergency Medical System, with a full infrastructure. The authors have outlined the good situation concerning the Emergency Medical System and infrastructure of this particular region in their article. But the data is not collected in an area which can be described as ‘special’ or ‘alpine’. It is simply collected in an Austrian countryside (unfortunately no further details given by the authors). We would also like to add that early defibrillation carried out by Emergency Medical Technicians in Austria after 1999 is legal. Furthermore, since 1999 early defibrillation can be carried out by laymen under certain circumstances [[2]Frühdefibrillation durch Laien“ Bundesministerium für soziale Sicherheit und Generationen, 21.12.2001.Google Scholar]. This is an important point, which should be specially outlined, as early defibrillation carried out by non-physicians is often still considered illegal or insufficiently defined by law in Austria. Unfortunately this was not mentioned in the article, even though it is written in November 2000.