Development of Community CPR Training Programs
Seattle Medic Two CPR Training
In Seattle, Washington, the 2009 survival rates for EMS-treated witnessed VF have reached 49%, according to Tom Rea, MD, Medical Director of King County Medic One.
For decades, the activities of the EMS programs in Seattle and surrounding King County have served as the role models for communities and EMS systems who work to improve their SCA survival rates.
Their commitment to excellence has driven a multitude of quality improvement initiatives designed to evaluate the system. To reach a 49% survival rate among witnessed VF SCA victims, Seattle Fire Department, a fire department based EMS system, has been measuring all aspects of their community’s response to out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) since the early 1970’s.10 Using the measurements to identify opportunities, the system has made continual improvements in survival over more than three decades.
In 1971, to improve a victim’s chances of receiving bystander CPR, Dr. Leonard Cobb organized Medic II, the public training arm of the Seattle Fire Department. Over the next two years, the program trained over 100,000 citizens in CPR. The Medic II Program taught CPR to more than 771,000 people through 2009, and it continues to provide CPR training for about 13,000 Seattle/King County residents each year. Over time, more than half of the 1.3 million residents of the Seattle and surrounding King County area have received CPR training. During 2008, bystanders initiated CPR for 58% of victims who were in cardiac arrest when EMS arrived, a figure considerably higher than most other communities. 11