What Is the Relationship Between Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Cardiac Arrest?

Enquiry question: What is the relationship between Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and cardiac arrest?

Emergency Medical Services (also known as EMS) provides on-site medical attention to an emergency and transfer patients to hospital. Emergency Medical Services has appeared in different forms since the beginning of recorded history. EMS was first provided by the medical teams (paramedics) in militaries during the war. Today, Emergency Medical Technician (also known as EMT) works in the community to provide emergency medical services. Emergency Medical Services provides a wide medical treatment, such as critical care, trauma, shock, asphyxia, cardiac arrest etc (Marx, 2010). Heart disease is one of the highest death rates, and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (also known as CPR) is one of the useful procedures to avoid cardiac arrest.

Emergency Medical Service first rendered in The New Testament where Jesus said a parable of the Good Samaritan who treated and cared a beaten man to an inn (Luke 10:34). This is the first example of the EMS in the community how the paramedic help the civilian when they are injured. During the middle ages, the Knights Hospitallers are attached to the hospital who provided EMS to the wounded soldiers in the battle field (Barbara, 2005). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded in 1863 and provided EMS to wounded soldiers during war in late 18th and 19th Century (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2010). Also different countries started having medical teams (paramedics) in their militaries to avoid the major casualty. During the war, people noticed how important the paramedics are, hospitals started having EMS. At the beginning, EMS was only transporting patients, such as during the plague in London in 1598 and 1665. But by the early 1960s, ambulance started having a regular ambulance crew and a hospital intern; and the objective was been changed from transportation to on-site treatment (Br Heart J, 1987). Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is one the EMS that avoids cardiac arrest; CPR will be able to effectively help the heart restored. In January 2011, Hong Kong Fire Services Department used 450 thousand Hong Kong Dollars bought in three Automatic Chest Compression Systems for their ambulances (Automatic Chest Compression Systems, 2010).

The heart has an internal electrical system that controls the rhythm of the heartbeat. Arrhythmia is the abnormal of the heart rhythms; there are many different types of arrhythmia. During an arrhythmia, the heart will beat arrhythmic. It can beat too fast, too slow, or it can stop beating. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart develops an arrhythmia that causes it to stop beating. There are many possible reasons cause the cardiac arrest, such as coronary heart disease, choking, drowning, electrocution, or heart attack. Or there may be an unknown cause to the cardiac arrest (National Institutes of Health, 2011). In 2000, Heart disease (i.e. Coronary heart disease and other diseases of the heart and circulation) accounts for 30% of all deaths in New Zealand. Which means sixteen New Zealanders die each day, or one person every 90 minutes as a result of Coronary heart disease. It is one of the highest death rates in New Zealand. Although the death rate for heart disease are still high; but since 1970, coronary heart disease age-standardised death rates have fallen by 61% in men and by 56% in women (Harvey, 2004). The decrease of the death rate could because of the development of the St John ambulance services. By the middle of the 1970s St John recognised the need to review its ambulance service activities. St John formalised their ambulance services to meet the Government's requirements and become a more effective organisation (St John New Zealand, 2011).

Without medical treatment, the person has cardiac arrest could die within a few minutes (NIH, 2011). If the person is not recovered from cardiac arrest as soon as possible; cardiac arrest will create a major damage to the person. Cardiac arrest arrested blood deliver oxygen to the body organs. Lack of oxygen to the brain will cause loss of consciousness, therefore results in absent breathing. Brain damage is likely if cardiac arrest happens without treatment for more than five minutes (Safar, 1986). Therefore immediate treatment is required for cardiac arrest; people will have more chances to survive if they have early cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Emergency Medical Technicians