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It's very interesting to me how many factors other than call volume seem to go into cardiac arrest frequency for the average EMS provider or system. I was surprised in another thread how widely spread our exposures to cardiac arrest are, even for those working in high volume systems with thousands of responses annually.
The raw statistics should be fairly easy to gather for all those with access to the data gathering components of their ePCR systems. For my own calls in 2015, I worked 10 cardiac arrests and had another 11 DOAs. Combined, those represented about 3% of my calls for the year. My department as a whole had about 1.3% workable cardiac arrests and 1.2% DOAs. I've heard 1% of call volume tossed around for cardiac arrest frequency in the past, but I'm not certain if that separates working codes from DOAs or is even accurate. I would expect our local percentages to be higher than average as we theoretically only respond on ALS 911 calls.
What factors do you think go into cardiac arrest frequency for your area or service? Some are obvious. IFT services, or those that work a sizable percentage of transfers in addition to 911, are going to affect the numbers dramatically, so I'd say filter it to 911 responses only to start out. Patient demographics and PCP coverage (possibly tied with socioeconomic status to some degree) are likely going to have an effect, as is rural vs. urban and how many of your patients live alone. Anyone else have any insight or your own rough percentages?
The raw statistics should be fairly easy to gather for all those with access to the data gathering components of their ePCR systems. For my own calls in 2015, I worked 10 cardiac arrests and had another 11 DOAs. Combined, those represented about 3% of my calls for the year. My department as a whole had about 1.3% workable cardiac arrests and 1.2% DOAs. I've heard 1% of call volume tossed around for cardiac arrest frequency in the past, but I'm not certain if that separates working codes from DOAs or is even accurate. I would expect our local percentages to be higher than average as we theoretically only respond on ALS 911 calls.
What factors do you think go into cardiac arrest frequency for your area or service? Some are obvious. IFT services, or those that work a sizable percentage of transfers in addition to 911, are going to affect the numbers dramatically, so I'd say filter it to 911 responses only to start out. Patient demographics and PCP coverage (possibly tied with socioeconomic status to some degree) are likely going to have an effect, as is rural vs. urban and how many of your patients live alone. Anyone else have any insight or your own rough percentages?