Effectiveness of a non-amalgamated ambulance service on out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death

Many Canadian communities rely on non-amalgamated ambulance services to respond to out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest victims. These pre-hospital care systems lack a central coordinating and dispatching facility, a publicized, easily-accessible telephone number (911) and vehicles equipped with monitor-defibrillators, and are generally staffed by personnel trained only in basic cardiac life support. To receive definitive care, the victim of a cardiac arrest in these communities must be successfully transported to a hospital. In the study area, 114 victims of out-of-hospital sudden death were identified in a community served by a non-amalgamated ambulance service over a 12-month period for an annual incidence rate of 6.1/10,000. The mean age was 64 +/- 11.5 years with the majority (78%) of arrests occurring in the home. The collapse to CPR time was 10.2 +/- 6.7 minutes and the ambulance response time was 5.2 +/- 3.9 minutes. The estimated time from collapse to the victims receiving definitive care was 36.4 +/- 19.1 minutes. Overall, only 8 victims (8.8%) survived and were discharged from hospital. Based on the data presented, survival rate for cardiac arrest victims treated by a non-amalgamated ambulance system are inferior to those reported for pre-hospital care services capable of providing advanced cardiac life support at the scene. Whether all of the components of an established paramedic program are required to improve survival rates in individual communities remains undetermined.