Your Health: New EMS protocol requires 30 minutes of CPR
By: News Staff
@abc6
Reporting By: Melissa Randall
Rhode Island is changing the way first responders to their jobs. A new rule is set to go in place next month for how they treat patients suffering from cardiac arrest. The protocol, which is being rolled out by the RI Department of Health, requires 30 minutes of CPR prior to a patient being transferred to the hospital.
The plan has raised some eyebrows from the public. That’s why health officials and local firefighters are trying to educate people on the new practice now, before it goes into effect March 1st.
Many people have long thought that when a loved one was suffering from cardiac arrest that the emergency room is the best option. But it turns out that staying right where you are might just save your life.
“The goal is to get the hospital per se to the patient rather than rush them to the hospital,” said Jason Rhodes, Chief of EMS for the state’s Department of Health.
Rhodes says that getting back a heart beat can take time. He adds that limited movement while first responders are working on a patient helps to ensure the best outcome.
“If you stop, interrupt chest compressions for any reason, whether its to roll them onto a back board, carry them down a set of stairs or move them to the vehicle you can not do high quality chest compressions,” he explained.
The Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs met last month and decided to embrace the new EMS protocol based on the positive statistics and data collected nation wide.
“We’re certainly in support of trying it and hopefully improving some patient outcomes,” said Chief Michael Cranson of the Portsmouth Fire Department.
Several local departments have already put the practice into effect. Warwick is already seeing early success.
“We’ve had 2 really good cases- one in November, one in December- where we actually had somebody not just get a pulse back but actually talking to us and responding to us on the way to the hospital,” said Jason Umbenhauer, EMS Coordinator for the Warwick Fire Department.
But Dr. Michael Dacey, CEO of Kent Hospital, says the new CPR protocol is not enough. He says other parts of the country are well ahead when it comes to keeping cardiac arrest patients alive, and he wants a more coordinated effort to figure out how to raise numbers locally.
“Although I don’t think anybody really knows for sure what the survival rate in RI is for all cardiac arrest, I know for a fact that its not what it is in Seattle and we can do better as a state and should be able to do better as a state,” he explained.
One idea that Dr. Dacey says could help make improvements would be to find a way to train more people in CPR. He adds that bystanders who know how to step in and help prior to first responders arriving can make a dramatic difference.
© WLNE-TV 2017
