Abstract

Background: Despite all the development in healthcare access and services, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a challenge and still has a poor prognosis. Thus, this study aimed to retrospectively apply the American Heart Association (AHA),Advanced Life Support (ALS), and Termination of Resuscitation (TOR) 2010 criteria to all OHCA patients who arrived at the emergency department (ED) in Abu Dhabi and determine their survival outcome.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was done among OHCA patients received by a tertiary care hospital’s ED in Abu Dhabi over a period of 1 year in 2018.
Results: A total of 87 patients were included; 21 (24.1%) patients met the AHA ALS TOR criteria and none of them survived To hospital discharge, with specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) of 100%. Only three patients (3.4%) who survived to be discharged from the hospital did not meet the AHA ALS TOR criteria.
Conclusion: AHA ALS TOR criteria were derived and validated; it must be applied by emergency medical services (EMS) on the field however, it could be applied on patient arrival to the ED in systems where EMS are not using it.

Key words: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, emergency department, termination of resuscitation, return of spontaneous circulation, emergency medical services.