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Cardiac arrest

Using EMS gear speeds ED rhythm analysis

Emergency Medical Services Equipment Use in the Emergency Department and Time to Care for Those With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Annals of Emergency Medicine · Added 25 August 2026

Video review study of 223 OHCA patients found using EMS equipment for initial ED rhythm analysis reduced median time to first rhythm analysis by 143 seconds and first defibrillation by 131.5 seconds compared with ED equipment.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Single-centre retrospective video review

Participants

223 adults with OHCA

Main finding

Initial ED rhythm analysis with EMS equipment shortened median time to first ED rhythm analysis by 143 seconds (95% CI 116–169) and first ED defibrillation by 131.5 seconds (95% CI 8–272); 8 patients survived to discharge

Caveat

Single-centre retrospective video review with non-randomised groups and different baseline rhythm distributions

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Strengthen my judgement on how continuity of resuscitation equipment during ED handover affects time to rhythm analysis.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 25 August 2026

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