CARES: Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival

Area of Science:

• Emergency medicine
• Public health surveillance
• Cardiac arrest research

Background:

• Survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) have seen limited improvement despite decades of scientific advancement.
• Effective data collection and analysis are crucial for enhancing emergency cardiac care and improving patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) system.
• To describe CARES's methodology for collecting and linking OHCA data from multiple sources.
• To highlight CARES's utility in assessing emergency medical services (EMS) performance and patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• CARES collects data from 911 dispatch, EMS providers, and receiving hospitals.
• Data linkage creates a comprehensive record for each OHCA case.
• Individual identifiers are removed to ensure anonymity, allowing data compilation without informed consent.

Main Results:

• CARES enables the characterization of local OHCA epidemiology.
• Standardized reports help evaluate EMS performance in delivering emergency cardiac care.
• The registry has expanded from a pilot program to 22 US cities, covering 14 million people, with over 13,000 cases.

Conclusions:

• CARES provides a robust framework for monitoring and improving OHCA response and outcomes.
• The registry's anonymized data facilitates participation and supports quality improvement initiatives.
• CARES is a scalable and growing resource for communities aiming to enhance cardiac arrest survival.