Two studies have found that high rise buildings add 2.7 minutes to medical emergency responses, which means that from an event’s onset it takes 13 minutes or more to get alongside the patient.

Medical protocols exist so that quality care can be delivered reliably. We now have to hand the ball to our public health administrators to allow such basic strategies to take hold and enable change.

“50 largest cities save only an estimated 6% to 10% of the victims of sudden cardiac arrest who realistically could be saved.”

The scary thing is nobody thought of onsite responders, even in monster Dubai high rises. And they try to convince everyone (except the pros) that 15 min responses are OK. The public needs to be told.

Total reliance on EMS vehicles is not necessary in high rises, where onsite resources and responders can meet early intervention goals reliably.

OK, they can do no more, when AEDs have a 4 min limit – understandable. On behalf of the 95% who die – might we try something new, something onsite?

Adding two minutes to the “8:59 standard” leaves a trail of dead and brain damaged victims everywhere. But in high rises, which already take an estimated 2 more minutes to access, they had may as well ask the coroner to saddle up the horses and roll the morgue wagon one more time.

Dispatchers obviously need more autonomy, and less data entry, before sending.

EMS1 is the leading website and news service for EMS people, and this ‘blog’ is a sterling example of its quality information.

“Matt Zavadsky dared to ask a provocative question in his presentation at the American Ambulance Association conference this past November, “Do Ambulance Response Times Really Matter?”

Safety agencies need to address the fact that thousands of people are dying needlessly in high rise and office buildings each year, because EMS simply can’t get to them in time. Arrest victims and rescuers have no access to the only device that can save them – an AED.

If a pulse is not restored before EMS transport, additional efforts at the receiving hospital almost invariably fail.

From 50% 50 years ago, actual fire calls are now just 1% of fire department responses, who are now “there to stop the clock”.

In New York the EMS time is about 12 minutes, due to traffic delays and the logistics of getting to victims in high-rise buildings.

As we look around for fresh ideas in the cardiac advocacy realm, there are some novel and promising concepts out there.