Validation of a Universal Rule for Termination of Resuscitation in the Field

No survivors would have been missed if the rule had been applied to this study’s large sample of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases with presumed cardiac etiology.

Survival rates for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remain below 10%. Investigators in Canada conducted a retrospective, external validation of a previously described decision rule (JW Emerg Med Aug 25 2006) that recommends termination of resuscitation efforts in the field if all three of the following criteria are met: no shock delivered, no return of spontaneous circulation, and arrest not witnessed by emergency medical services personnel.

The investigators reviewed arrest characteristics and outcomes data for 2415 consecutive adult patients (mean age, 69; 63% men) who were treated by the Toronto area EMS system for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac etiology between April 2006 and April 2007. Overall, 130 patie…

Reviewing Author

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Validation of a Universal Rule for Termination of Resuscitation in the Field

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Reviewing Author