CPR Instruction by Videotape: Results of a Community Project☆,☆☆,★,★★,♢,♢♢
Section snippets
INTRODUCTION
The early initiation of CPR is a critical determinant in successful resuscitation from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.1, 2 Early CPR can be achieved most expediently through bystander CPR.3 Programs designed to increase the rate of bystander CPR have had limited success. Mass training of citizens has been successful in only a few communities. Even in Seattle and King County, Washington, despite a large proportion of citizens trained in CPR, most cardiac arrests do not have bystander CPR.3 This
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A committee of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, CPR instructors, and physicians defined the content for the videotape, titled "CPR: You Can Do It." An independent producer helped develop and produce a script for a 10-minute pilot videotape. We evaluated the pilot videotape by testing nearly 50 people who were 50 years or older. On the basis of the results of how well the subjects performed CPR after viewing the pilot videotape, we made minor modifications in the content.
In the final
RESULTS
A total of 65 cardiac arrests meeting the case definition occurred in the study community. Forty-five cardiac arrests occurred in nonstudy households and so were excluded from analysis. Among the 65 cases in the study households, 31 occurred in the intervention group and 34 occurred in the control group. There was one repeat episode of cardiac arrest in an intervention household, and this case was counted twice. The patient survived the first episode of cardiac arrest. Data are presented on the
DISCUSSION
There was no statistical difference between the incidence of bystander CPR in the videotape and no-videotape groups. The limited number of cardiac arrests in the community and the higher-than-expected rate of bystander CPR in the control no-videotape group reduced the possibility of demonstrating a benefit of the videotapes. The study was underpowered to demonstrate an effect on community rates of bystander CPR.
A failing of the study was the disappointingly small number of subjects (only nine)
CONCLUSION
Our study demonstrated no benefit of a communitywide CPR training program using videotapes mailed to individuals more than 50 years old. Although the study may have been too small to demonstrate such a benefit, the findings suggest that mass mailing of videotapes is of doubtful usefulness in increasing community rates of bystander CPR.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the following individuals for making the study possible: Medic 7 and Everett Medics, Sue Eastman, and Dianne Torrance, Brehms, Eastman, Glade, Inc; Terry Meyer, KOMO TV; Chief Terry Ollis, Everett Fire Department; and Steve Call, Emergency Medical Services Division, Seattle/King County Department of Health. Shelley Dixon assisted in manuscript preparation.
References (4)
- et al.
Prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: Is it effective?
JAMA
(1985) - et al.
Paramedic programs and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: I. Factors associated with successful resuscitation
Am J Public Health
(1979)
Cited by (0)
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From the Center for Evaluation of Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Medical Services Division, King County Department of Health, Seattle*; the Departments of Medicine‡, Health Services§, and the Division of Research in Medical Education∥, University of Washington, Seattle; South Snohomish Medic 7, Mountlake Terrace¶; and Everett Fire Department#, Washington.
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Received for publication
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Revision
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Accepted for publication
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Address for reprints: Mickey Eisenberg, MD, Center for Evaluation of Emergency Medical Services, King County Emergency Medical Services, 900 Fourth Avenue, Suite 850, Seattle, Washington 98164, 206-296-4693, Fax 206-296-4866
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Reprint no. 47/1/61959