August 20, 2015Uncategorized

Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation on the Cutting Edge with Paragon

This week on the Disaster Podcast we have a very special episode for you. It’s a bit different that we’ve covered in the past, but it is an essential part of medical care at any level, including disaster medical care. Cardiac arrest is a major public health issue in the United States. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cardiac arrest resuscitation statistics, over 300,000 people each year suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.

Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Rates Too Low

The average rate of survival in the nation is around 8%. That means that of 300,000 patients, only 24,000 survive. That’s a national public health disaster. If we could improve those numbers, even slightly, and resuscitate say 10% of the sudden cardiac arrest patients or beyond it would save an additional 3,000 lives for every percentage point of change.

Our partners and sponsors here at the Disaster Podcast, Paragon Medical Education Group (@paragonmededu on Twitter), are involved in breaking the barriers of traditional medical education in all areas. We know from their previous episodes here on the Disaster Podcast that they specialize in Disaster education but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t involved with other areas of medical education and research. They have been doing some really incredible research into cardiac arrest resuscitation in association with Dr. Keith Lurie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are working on research into “Heads-up CPR” and the use of impedance threshold devices that reduce intra-thoracic pressures during compressions like the ResQPod and the ResQPump from Advanced Circulatory.

Check out this special segment on the groundbreaking, cutting edge research Dr. Joe Holley and paramedic Jim Logan are involved with at Paragon. They talk about early results and their efforts to create a cadaver-based model for education and demonstration of these devices and techniques for cardiac arrest resuscitation. They will also be demonstrating some of these things at EMS World Expo in Las Vegas Sept 16-19, 2015 for a limited VIP audience. You can find out how to get a first-hand look by asking about the Advanced Circulatory/Paragon demo in the Zoll booth (booth #1010) at the event.

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Again, a special thank-you to Paragon Medical Education Group for their continued support of this podcast as our partners in this endeavor to bring disaster medicine to you. Check out their page and educational resources that can help your system be more prepared for what happens in your area.

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