Telemedical Intensivist Consultation During In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation

Background

High-quality leadership improves resuscitation for in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA), but experienced resuscitation leaders are unavailable in many settings.

Research Question

Does real-time telemedical intensivist consultation improve resuscitation quality for IHCA?

Study Design and Methods

In this multicenter randomized controlled trial, standardized high-fidelity simulations of IHCA conducted between February 2017 and September 2018 on inpatient medicine and surgery units at seven hospitals were assigned randomly to consultation (intervention) or simulated observation (control) by a critical care physician via telemedicine. The primary outcome was the fraction of time without chest compressions (ie, no-flow fraction) during an approximately 4- to 6-min analysis window beginning with telemedicine activation. Secondary outcomes included other measures of chest compression quality, defibrillation and medication timing, resuscitation protocol adherence, nontechnical team performance, and participants' experience during resuscitation participation.

Results

No-flow fraction did not differ between the 36 intervention group (0.22 ± 0.13) and the 35 control group (0.19 ± 0.10) resuscitation simulations included in the intention-to-treat analysis (P = .41). The etiology of the simulated cardiac arrest was identified more often during evaluable resuscitations supported by a telemedical intensivist consultant (22/32 [69%]) compared with control resuscitations (10/34 [29%]; P = .001), but other measures of resuscitation quality, resuscitation team performance, and participant experience did not differ between intervention groups. Problems with audio quality or the telemedicine connection affected 14 intervention group resuscitations (39%).

Interpretation

Consultation by a telemedical intensivist physician did not improve resuscitation quality during simulated ward-based IHCA.

Trial Registry

ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT03000829; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov