Cardiac Arrest: A Nursing Perspective on 500,000 Sufferers Annually - Research Paper

Introduction

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is the failure of automatic cardiac function and the loss of systemic circulation. OHCA affects about 1000 people in America each day. When the total cases recorded in hospitals are included, an excess of 500,000 people suffers from cardiac arrest annually. The large number of people suffering from this disease makes it an interesting topic for students and the overall nursing profession. The most prolific cause of cardiac arrest in the pre-hospital setting is coronary heart disease and other heart illnesses caused by wear and tear, such as congenital heart disease.

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General Practitioners Who Volunteer to Provide OHCA CARE

Cardiac arrest in the pre-hospital setting is a significant cause of early deaths. The affected people can survive when punctual cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation services are accessible. General practitioners are the best people to offer cardiac arrest treatments in pre-hospital settings (Barry et al., 2020). When general practitioners provide early treatments and care in out-of-hospital settings, there is a remarkable increase in survival rates. Additionally, a general practitioner's participation in resuscitation leads to a significant decrease in death rates. The presence of general practitioners in the community is crucial in minimizing premature deaths due to OHCA.

Volunteer general practitioners treat most out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases. The general practitioners are either called when an emergency case occurs in their neighbourhoods. During such times a general practitioner administers the services to save a situation. The response of general practitioners to OHCA cases is determined by the practitioner's relationship with the community (Barry, Guerin et al., 2020). Moreover, the general practitioner's voluntary response is determined by his/her ability to balance competing needs in his/her private and vocational life. Most general practitioners take the responsibility of helping these cases to save lives. General practitioners offer potentially life-saving interventions for patients and their families. The care offered is complex and involves revitalization and end-of-life care.

Public Access Defibrillation and Neurological Outcomes in Patients With OHCA

About 80 per cent of patients who access defibrillation services do not have a spontaneous return of circulation (Nakashima et al., 2019). OHCA patients exhibit a shockable heart rhythm before the arrival of emergency health personnel. However, patients who have public access to defibrillation services have favourable neurological outcomes compared with those who lack such access. Moreover, more patients get healed after 30 days following public access to defibrillation services. Nakashima et al. (2019) say that a study carried out in Japan shows that the ratio of people who recovered after receiving defibrillation services for 30 days was higher than those who did not have access to defibrillation services within the same period.

Public access to defibrillation services within the community has numerous benefits. Firstly, it enables people to receive specialized treatment with shorter times, thus saving their lives and increasing their chances of survival. Moreover, the accessibility of defibrillation services has enabled communities to be safe from sudden attacks. People with heart problems are diagnosed early and regularly kept on check. When an attack occurs out of a hospital setting is met by experienced practitioners and curbed to prevent further damage on an individual.

Importance of OHCA Care to The Nursing Profession and Its Evolution Over Time

Pre-hospital cardiac arrest cases are referred to as nearby health practitioners. In the general population, the majority of health practitioners are nurses (Ong et al., 2018). Most of the cases get first attention from nurses. Therefore, nurses must have the requisite knowledge and skill to handle such situations. In the past, nurses had to wait for advanced cardiac life support trained personnel to perform the treatment. Most nurses lacked expertise in the use of defibrillation machines and administration of treatments.

The introduction of the automated external defibrillator was a step to enable nurses to administer treatments for cardiac arrest treatments. Nurses are now equipped with life support knowledge and the use of defibrillators. Most hospitals have trained their nurses to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, thus providing them with the required skills to respond faster to such cases within their communities (Ong et al., .2018). Moreover, the number of nursing staff has increased over time. Most communities now have access to a nurse, who can handle a cardiac arrest case in a pre-hospital setting.

The provision of training on cardiac arrest in pre-hospital settings to nurses has been instrumental in giving them confidence. Nurses can attend to OHCA cases comfortably because they have the skills necessary to offer treatment in such situations. Moreover, most nurses have received training that can enable them to identify collapse rhythms. This training has changed the way nurses perceive OHCA care. A significant number of nurses have assisted patients with such problems outside the hospital setting, which has minimized the death rates. Community health has improved due to the presence of nurses with such skills in pre-hospital settings.

Conclusion

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest affects about 1000 adults annually. General practitioners who volunteer to provide OHCA care do so in relation to their affiliations with their communities. The practitioners offer complex end-of-care and resuscitation services that assist in saving patient's lives. People who have public access to defibrillation services have higher chances of recovery than those who do not have access. Nurses are the primary healthcare professionals, and thus their training and skills on the use of defibrillators have enabled them to provide first responses to cardiac arrest patients out of hospital settings.

References

Barry, T., Guerin, S., Headon, M., & Bury, G. (2020). GPs who volunteer to be first responders for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A qualitative study. European Journal of General Practice, 26(1), 33-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2019.1681194

Nakashima, T., Noguchi, T., Tahara, Y., Nishimura, K., Yasuda, S., Onozuka, D., ... & Ikeda, T. (2019). Public-access defibrillation and neurological outcomes in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Japan: a population-based cohort study. The Lancet, 394(10216), 2255-2262. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32488-2

Ong, M. E. H., Perkins, G. D., & Cariou, A. (2018). Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: pre-hospital management. The Lancet, 391(10124), 980-988. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30316-7