By Tom Rea, MD

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund was created to support life sciences research and development in Washington state. When applied to health care and medicine, this research and development has the potential to save lives.

Cardiac arrest is an important example where applied science can improve health care. In cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating suddenly, blood pressure drops, and consciousness is lost. Death is certain unless the heart can be restarted in minutes.

Successful resuscitation is possible, but requires a coordinated, time-sensitive set of rescuer actions that integrate emergency response (call 9-1-1), CPR (chest compressions), defibrillation (electrical shock), and advanced medical therapies. These lifesaving actions require a team approach that includes the general public, the emergency dispatcher, the EMT, the paramedic and hospital providers.

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund has helped ensure that the team of rescuers is better prepared for those precious minutes when life hangs in the balance.

In 2008, the Life Sciences Discovery Fund and partners collaborated to develop the Program to Integrate Technology and Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation, leveraging the strengths of the region’s emergency care system. Partners such as the Medic One/King County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division of Public Health – Seattle & King County, the University of Washington, Philips Medical, Physio-Control Inc. and others came together to evaluate a variety of strategies to improve survival rates.

In undertaking the program, the partners leveraged the region’s high cardiac arrest survival. King County boasts the highest survival in the world, with more than 60 percent of patients surviving from collapse to hospital discharge. By comparison, cities like New York and Chicago report survival rates in the single digits. The high rate off survival is a testament to the ongoing effort to rigorously evaluate emergency care by King County EMS and to the dedication, skills and teamwork of the region’s emergency dispatchers, EMTs and paramedics.

The goals of the program are not just to advance scientific understanding, but to engage in innovative programs that can improve survival around the region and across the state.

To this end, two new approaches have been deployed by the program to engage community resuscitation stakeholders across Washington, including those here in King County. First, a “Resuscitation Academy” provides a curriculum aimed at enabling leadership to improve SCA survival in their community. Thus far, the academy has trained individuals in 31 of 39 Washington counties to better understand resuscitation principles, measure resuscitation care and outcome, and interpret measurement results.

A second community engagement effort involves police officers. Although police respond to a variety of emergencies, they traditionally do not routinely respond to medical emergencies. However, medical technology has advanced so that police can provide lifesaving treatment for cardiac arrest patients with defibrillators.

Through a coordinated effort involving Norcom Communications, the Bellevue Fire Department and King County EMS, the Bellevue Police Department launched a pilot program to respond to and treat SCA patients as part of a team response that included the Bellevue EMTs and paramedics. Launched in 2011, the police program has responded to dozens of cardiac arrest patients and is directly responsible for several saved lives that would have otherwise been lost. Other communities across Washington state are developing similar police programs. Translated across the state, police response for cardiac arrest provides the potential to save hundreds of additional lives in Washington.

The program to Integrate Technology and Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation builds on a track record of evaluation and innovation that leverages the strengths of the region’s emergency care system. The collaboration with public safety, community, and industry stakeholders provides an effective “life sciences” strategy to advance health locally and across Washington state.

Tom Rea is a physician at Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington. He is Program Medical Director for King County Medic One. He is part of the team involved in the Program to Integrate Technology and Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation.