Cardiac arrest systems of care are successfully coordinating community, emergency medical services, and hospital efforts to improve the process of care for patients who have had a cardiac arrest. As a result, the number of people surviving sudden cardiac arrest is increasing. However, physical, cognitive, and emotional effects of surviving cardiac arrest may linger for months or years. Systematic recommendations stop short of addressing partnerships needed to care for patients and caregivers after medical stabilization. This document expands the cardiac arrest resuscitation system of care to include patients, caregivers, and rehabilitative healthcare partnerships, which are central to cardiac arrest survivorship.

Despite public education campaigns and a chest compression-only initiative, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is provided in approximately 30–40% of out of hospital cardiac arrests in the United States. Bystander CPR rates may not improve without addressing factors influencing bystanders’ probability of performing CPR. We propose an “intention-focused” model for the bystander CPR performance utilizing validated behavioral theory. This model describes a framework that may predict CPR performance, with intention as the key determinant of this behavior. This model may provide specific targets for strengthening the intention to perform CPR, which could lead to increased bystander rates.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract