Cardiac Arrest Center – Zertifizierung stärkt Patientenzufluss durch den Rettungsdienst

BACKGROUND: Since 2015, the international resuscitation guidelines recommend the implementation of specialized hospitals (so-called cardiac arrest centers, CAC) for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). OBJECTIVES: The aim was to investigate the potential influence of hospital certification as a CAC on the decision of emergency medical service staff (EMS, including out-of-hospital emergency physicians and paramedics) when transporting OHCA patients to a hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A web-based, anonymous questionnaire with 20 items was performed from 15 May 2018 to 15 June 2018 in Germany. Target groups were out-of-hospital emergency physicians and paramedics. RESULTS: Of 437 respondents, 378 responses (n = 292 emergency physicians, n = 86 paramedics) were included in the statistical analysis. In all, 75.1% (n = 284) indicated that CAC certification of hospitals would matter in their own transportation decisions for OHCA patients in future transportations, 78.3% (n = 296) expected that CAC certification will result in an improvement in patient care, and 78.8% (n = 298) were in favor of implementing the CAC certification. Respondents would accept an additional 16.3 min (95% confidence interval 15.2–17.3) of transportation time to reach a CAC. CONCLUSIONS: Certification of hospitals as CAC has the potential to influence emergency medical personnel decisions about which hospital to transport OHCA patients to. Due to the limited additional acceptable transport time to reach a CAC, a close network of certified hospitals is needed nationwide.