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. 2022 May 30;14(5):e25502.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.25502. eCollection 2022 May.

Changes in the Treatment for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest During the Initial Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Japan

Kenji Numata  1   2 , Chinami Sakurai  2 , Michiko Mizobe  2 , Yosuke Homma  2 , Jin Takahashi  2 , Hiraku Funakoshi  2
Affiliations

Changes in the Treatment for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest During the Initial Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Japan

Kenji Numata et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic carries an added risk of COVID-19 infection for healthcare workers. However, because of the shortage of medical supplies and limited evidence of COVID-19 in the initial stages of the pandemic, strategies for the management of OHCA patients may have varied across hospitals.

Method: A web-based questionnaire was used. The first section collected data about physician characteristics. In the second section, participants responded "Yes" or "No," if they had made changes in the areas of "personal protective equipment (PPE)" or "CPR Algorithm" for OHCA patients (these changes were the personal views of the surveyed respondents). The questionnaire was sent to the members of the Emergency Medicine Alliance mailing list. The response period was from May 22 to June 5, 2020 (the first state of emergency related to COVID-19 was declared on April 7, 2020, in Japan). Participants were asked to indicate their stress level resulting from these changes using the Likert scale ranging from 1 to 10, where 1 = "no stress" and 10 = "severe stress."

Result: A total of 110 physicians responded during the study period. The majority of participants reported changes in "PPE" (n = 106, 96.4%) and "CPR Algorithm" (n = 86, 78.2%). The reported stress level due to changes in PPE was 8 (IQR 6-9) and due to changes in the CPR algorithm, it was 7 (IQR 5-8).

Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that physicians experienced changes in care for OHCA patients and felt stress during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it would be better to list the actual measures that can be undertaken to prepare for any future pandemics.

Keywords: covid 19; emergency department cpr; ohca; personal protective equipment; treatment algorithm.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 1
Figure 2
Figure 2. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 2
Figure 3
Figure 3. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 3
Figure 4
Figure 4. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 4
Figure 5
Figure 5. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 5
Figure 6
Figure 6. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 6
Figure 7
Figure 7. English questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 7
Figure 8
Figure 8. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 1
Figure 9
Figure 9. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 2
Figure 10
Figure 10. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 3
Figure 11
Figure 11. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 4
Figure 12
Figure 12. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 5
Figure 13
Figure 13. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 6
Figure 14
Figure 14. Japanese original questionnaire for evaluating changes in the treatment for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the initial stage of COVID-19 outbreak, Page 7
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