Title: Exploring and Improving Resuscitation Decisions in Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Summary: When the heart suddenly stops beating, treatment (known as resuscitation), must be started quickly. NHS Ambulance Services are called to help 30,000 people with this condition each year. Despite the best efforts of ambulance staff less than one in 10 whose heart stops survive. This means that ambulance staff often have to make the difficult decision of when to stop resuscitation. They are helped by following guidelines, but they were written over 20 years ago and need updating.

The old guidelines no longer correctly guide paramedics when to stop treatment or when to carry on. This means that treatment may be stopped too soon in some patients who might benefit form carrying on. In other patients, the guidelines suggest to move the patients to hospital despite the fact they have no chance of surviving. The knock-on-effects of this are journeys with blue lights and sirens which put ambulance staff and other road users at risk of injury from crashes. Patients are separated from their families and taken to a busy hospital. At the hospital, it is difficult for staff to allow the family to spend quiet time with the patient. Hospitals also become overcrowded which can affect other patients.

This research will develop new guidelines based on the most up to date information available. It will consider how the new guidelines might work in real life. We will find out the views of ambulance and hospital staff, patients and relatives. This will help make sure the guidelines are acceptable to everyone.

Chief Investigator: Professor Gavin Perkins / Assistant Professor Michael Smyth

Senior Project Manager: Dalbir Kaur

Study Manager: Lauren Betteley

Funder: NIHR HS&DR Researcher Led

Key contacts

General enquiries: protected@warwick.ac.uk

Senior Project Manager: Dalbir Kaur dalbir.kaur@warwick.ac.uk

Study Manager: Lauren Betteley

lauren dot betteley at warwick dot ac dot uk