The presentation took the top prize among the resident entries, their research will be recognized at the TCEP annual business meeting coming up on Saturday, June 26th.

Watch a video of their presentation:

Cardiac arrest is not uncommon, according to Dr. Ben Bobrow, professor and chair of emergency medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and attending physician at Memorial Hermann.

 

“Cardiac arrest happens on average 60 times a day in the state of Texas,” said Bobrow, who helped launch the Texas-Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) Program in 2019 to determine the frequency of loss of heart function.

 

Bystander CPR — which consists of only chest compressions instead of the traditional method that also includes breath — can triple the chance of survival, he explained.

 

“But CPR happens in only half the cases,” he said. “People are uncertain how to do it, and they don’t want to hurt someone. They shouldn’t be afraid to do CPR. They can only help someone by doing it.”

 

It’s his mission to spread the word. “CPR should be a life skill, like riding a bike or swimming,” he said.

 

Bobrow created a three-minute video on YouTube to teach bystander CPR, since COVID-19 has halted in-person classes.

 

“People can watch and learn how to do this,” he said. “It’s something you can even practice at home. CPR can be the difference between life and death. You want to be able to save a life.”

With your help we’re going to change that.

Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods also had lower rates of AED use, according to the study, which was published in a recent edition of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association (AHA).

First author Ryan Huebinger, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, and his team conducted the research by analyzing data from more than 18,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. The research earned Huebinger an AHA’s Young Investigator Award.

The researchers wrote that the findings identified an important opportunity to improve training and access to information about AEDs to better serve minority and underrepresented neighborhoods in Texas. “Through these efforts we can hopefully close the gap and save lives,” Huebinger said.

Senior author on the paper was Bentley Bobrow, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at McGovern Medical School. Other UTHealth co-authors in the department were Lesley Osborn, MD, assistant professor and medical director of Memorial Hermann Life Flight; Henry Wang, MD, professor and executive vice chair of research; Micah Panczyk, MS, director of implementation science; and Normandy Villa, MPH, translational science and quality improvement specialist.

The abstract analyzed data from more than 18,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests entered into the Texas-CARES registry from 2014 through 2018. Dr. Huebinger and his team found that minority and poor neighborhoods in Texas suffer “large and unacceptable disparities” relative to non-Hispanic/Latino white neighborhoods in bystander response and patient outcomes. The findings, the authors conclude, highlight an important opportunity for targeted resuscitation training and quality improvement.

Background

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of death in Texas with an estimated incidence of 60 people affected each day. Survival in Texas is approximately 5% statewide and large disparities in care and outcomes exist. Implementing the approach outlined in this program, many communities across the country have shown that OHCA survival can be significantly higher. The likelihood of survival is higher in witnessed than in unwitnessed arrests and is increased by early recognition, early activation of the 911 system, bystander CPR with instructions from telecommunicators, early defibrillation, and choreographed, minimally interrupted chest compressions. Understanding the current state of cardiac arrest resuscitative efforts is critical to any improvement effort. Recognizing this, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) put “Establish a National Cardiac Arrest Registry” at the top of its list of recommendations for improving outcomes. The IOM report also calls for adopting continuous quality improvement programs and enhancing research.

Findings

CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) is a HIPAA-compliant electronic registry developed by the CDC and housed at Emory University that serves as the US national cardiac arrest registry. Participation in Texas is voluntary and limited, covering a third of the state. Recruiting efforts aimed at achieving universal statewide participation would provide critical data and enable quality improvement efforts to improve survival and neurological outcomes.

Data is entered into CARES by EMS agencies and hospitals. Using built-in reporting, agencies and state planners are able to rapidly determine the epidemiology of cardiac arrest resuscitation in Texas and measure the effectiveness of on-going improvement efforts.
The TX-CARES program is a partnership between communities, 911 centers, EMS agencies, hospitals, academic medical centers, and public health departments. Start-up funding has been provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Department of Emergency Medicine. This funding provides CARES coordinators to facilitate EMS agency enrollment and data validation as well as a state subscription to CARES. This subscription allows every EMS agency in Texas to participate in CARES.

The TX-CARES program also is promoting the implementation of a federally funded improvement effort: CPRLifeLinks. This initiative aims to achieve the IOM recommendation for continuous quality improvement within Texas-CARES. CPRLifelinks is focused on providing training to EMS agencies and dispatch centers aimed at improving resuscitative efforts and is built on evidenced based guidelines.

Position

GETAC plays a key role in unifying and leading EMS and Trauma care across Texas. As such, GETAC:

1. recognizes the fundamental need, role, and public health benefit of TX-CARES,
2. supports the emergence and sustainability of TX-CARES,
3. strongly recommends that all EMS Agencies and hospitals in Texas participate in both the data collection and quality-improvement arms of TX-CARES and CPRLifelinks
4. supports on-going collaborative efforts aimed at providing sustainable future funding for the TX-CARES program.