Journal Club: Bag-Valve Mask Ventilation and Survival from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Multicenter Study

Episode Title: Article Discussion: Bag-Valve Mask Ventilation and Survival from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Multicenter Study

Episode Description: In this episode of Alert Medic 1, Mustafa Sidik and Josh Cooke delve into the findings of the recently published academic paper "Bag-Valve Mask Ventilation and Survival from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Multicenter Study." This study, a secondary analysis of a previously published paper's data, explored the effectiveness of bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before the placement of advanced airways.

The research, conducted from the data captured from six sites of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium CCC study, analyzed patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The study's unique approach involved defining detectable ventilation waveforms and comparing the incidence of ventilation and outcomes between two groups of patients based on the frequency of these waveforms during CPR.

Key findings revealed that lung inflation with BVM ventilation during 30:2 CPR was infrequently observed. However, significantly higher rates of prehospital return of spontaneous circulation, survival to hospital discharge, and favorable neurological outcomes were associated with patients having lung inflation in 50% or more of CPR pauses.

Join us as we dissect these findings and discuss their implications for emergency medical practices and CPR guidelines. We'll also highlight the study's methods, its approach to data analysis, and the potential shift it may bring in treating out-of-hospital cardiac arrests​​.

Idris, A, et al. Bag-Valve-Mask Ventilation and Survival From Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Multicenter Study. Circulation. DOI:  10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.065561