Resuscitation of patients in cardiac arrest outside hospital. Comparison of two different organizations of mobile coronary care in one community.

We have compared the effectiveness of two different mobile coronary care systems with regard to mortality from cardiac arrest (CA) outside hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. In period 1, the mobile coronary care unit (MCCU) was part of a randomized study of the effect of an MCCU versus standard ambulances on early mortality from ischaemic heart disease. The MCCU was single, hospital based and manned by two CCU nurses and two ambulance drivers. The organization ran on workdays 08.00 a.m. to 17.00 p.m. from October, 1973 to May, 1978, corresponding to twelve months of effective time. One-year data for the MCCU have been calculated by extrapolating to a 100% allocation to the MCCU. In period 2, from November, 1980, through December, 1981, also corresponding to twelve months of effective time, the system was reorganized to a mobile intensive care unit (MICU) manned by paramedics 24 h all days of the week, and part of the time by CCU nurses. The MICU was dispatched to all suspected emergencies and the treatment capacity was defibrillation, endotracheal intubation and, part of the time, drugs. Simultaneously with the MICU, the nearest standard ambulance was dispatched and the first crew to arrive started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Comparing the extrapolated data from period 1 with the exact data from period 2, there was an increase in period 2 of dispatches to subjects in CA due to heart disease from 59 to 181. The retrieval of subjects in ventricular fibrillation (VF) increased from 20 to 87 as a result of reduced delay times from the collapse to alarm, start of CPR and defibrillation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)