Impact of telephone dispatcher assistance on the outcomes of pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Critical Care Medicine, 05/03/2012

Akahane M et al. – Telephone dispatcher assistance could significantly increase bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation among witnessed pediatric out–of–hospital cardiac arrests. Although there was only a small, nonsignificant effect on the improvement in favorable neurologic outcome at 1 month, the improved survival associated with telephone dispatcher assistance in pediatric out–of–hospital cardiac arrest is clinically important, and is of major public health importance. In cases where cardiac arrest was uncertain from the bystander’s replies during the call to emergency medical services, telephone dispatcher assistance was not offered, which could affect the adjusted odds ratio of the present study.