Revising CPR to Improve Cardiac Arrest Outcomes Outside the Hospital

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Peter Nagele, MD Time is of the essence after cardiac arrest; action must be taken within five minutes. Survival rates for patients who arrest outside the hospital are disappointing. How do we help patients who arrest in public or (statistically more likely) in the home, where there is no access to medical equipment and medication? Host Dr. Janet Wright talks with Dr. Peter Nagele, chief of the section of trauma anesthesiology in the department of anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis, about revised CPR methods without mouth-to-mouth, and what recent research tells us about the potential for these methods to improve outcomes. And what are plans for training the general public?