What You Should Expect At The Hospital

As we have mentioned before, CPR is hard work and chest compressions should be exhausting. With this in mind, EMS providers should not be expected to continue chest compressions AND unload patients from an ambulance with only a two-man crew. More appropriately, medical staff (whether physicians, nurses, techs, or students) should meet the ambulance at the hospital doors and immediately take over chest compressions while EMS unloads the patient (and takes a breath!). It is the responsibility of EMS providers to inform the hospital that a patient is being brought with CPR in progress, last known vital signs and time, and an estimated time of arrival; it is the responsibility of the doctors to ensure someone is waiting for the patient to arrive.

Overwhelming evidence supports the use of therapeutic hypothermia for patients with cardiac arrest who undergo return of spontaneous circulation after CPR, and you should be able to expect this for your patients as well. Hypothermia has become the standard of care for patients post-cardiac arrest; please see our entire page dedicated to describing the process, physiology, and research behind therapeutic cooling.