(5 min read) After attending King County Resuscitation Academy, Cosumnes Fire started to use the data provided by the ZOLL X series and Case Review to drive CPR performance improvement. Through training and implementation of high-performance CPR protocols, the Cosumnes team was able to confirm marked improvement in cardiac arrest resuscitations, more than doubling their ROSC rates. Even local law-enforcement officers that participate in resuscitations utilize the CPR feedback provided by the X-Series, having been coached by the team on how to use the data to deliver high-quality CPR.

The ZOLL AED Plus, ZOLL X series, CPR Stat Padz, and Case Review products have played in instrumental role in allowing the Cosumnes EMS Division to analyze data and responder performance, improve patient care reporting through the use of telemetry recording and uploading, and most importantly provide feedback to continue to refine responders resuscitation efforts. These achievements, and the dramatic increase in ROSC, more than qualifies them as an EMS Pulse Award recipient in 2019.

Their Story

The EMS Division in 2016 embarked on the creation of the first EMS Master Plan for the Cosumnes Fire Department. This plan included the use of medical device and patient care reporting data to identify areas where they could impact comprehensive change to patient care delivery. Cosumnes worked as a team in order to accomplish a multi-phased strategy for improving patient outcomes after cardiac arrest incidents.

As part of the plan, a sidewalk CPR campaign was initiated in July of 2016, and included a combined group of Fire Prevention Educators, Firefighters and members of the EMS Division who implemented community awareness and event training.  The highlight of the sidewalk CPR campaign was when the Cosumnes Fire Department was invited to the California Capitol Building with their Division personnel and Mobile Training Unit to teach the concepts of CPR to the legislature of California!

But they didn’t stop there. In the fall of 2016 and 2017, the EMS Division sought to improve field providers’ training through the implementation of the Handtevy Pediatric Resuscitation system and High Performance CPR training using high fidelity feedback training simulators. Then, in 2017 and 2018, the EMS Division worked with cooperating law enforcement agencies in the cities of Elk Grove and Galt to conduct high performance CPR training with officers. Together they developed an agreement whereby the police dispatch center would, if available, dispatch the closest two officers under a lifesaving mission as a priority for unconscious/ unresponsive patients.

Cosumnes has, over the past 3 years, tirelessly strived to improve their ROSC rates through a combination of technology, training, and grassroots community education.

While these public and provider level educational engagements were underway, the EMS Division Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement conducted retrospective analysis of past cardiac arrest data. They discovered that the ability to provide their personnel with real-time feedback was imperative to further success, so they called Kim Tanner, their ZOLL Sales Representative, to explore ZOLL Case Review.

Case Review gave Consumnes the real-time analysis they were after, empowering them to provide feedback to rescue crews within the same rotation as the call occurred. Running an average of 11 cardiac arrests a month, they are now seeing an average of 4.5-5 ROSC in the field. In 2018, they celebrated on 2 separate occasions a total of 12 cardiac arrest survivors who were able to walk into the Board of Directors meeting under their own power, meet their rescue teams which included civilians who performed lay person CPR, Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Police Officers and Firefighter/Paramedics who responded to their cardiac arrest incidents.

By the numbers

• Began efforts to improve patient care delivery and ROSC rates in 2016 with the creation of the Master Plan. Now, 3 years later, they are seeing excellent results.
• They have seen dramatic increase in ROSC, and overall quality of life rose from 18% in 2017 to over 44% in 2018.
• Running an average of 11 cardiac arrests a month, they are now seeing an average of 4.5-5 ROSC in the field. 
• In 2018, they celebrated on 2 separate occasions a total of 12 cardiac arrest survivors.

In Closing…

As a believer in ZOLL products since the ZOLL 1600, the Cosumnes Fire Department has continued to explore technology, medical science, and focused training to improve patient outcomes and save lives!

The ZOLL AED Plus, ZOLL X series, CPR Stat Padz, and Case Review products have played an instrumental role in allowing the EMS Division to analyze data and responder performance, improve patient care reporting through the use of telemetry recording and uploading, and most importantly providing feedback to continue to refine their responders’ efforts at conducting resuscitation of cardiac arrest.

The Resuscitation Academy recognized Cosumnes for their efforts in 2019 when they awarded the fire department with two scholarships to their CPR Leadership program. Captain Scott Clark and FF/PM Ed Raschein attended in March 2019. In the future, they have plans to broaden CPR education throughout Northern California – but in the meantime, they routinely utilize the Case Review report cards in lectures and presentations with the Academy.

About EMS Pulse Awards

To coincide with National EMS Week, ZOLL created the EMS Pulse Awards. The awards recognize professionals who are the pulse of their EMS organization, working behind the scenes of prehospital care and empowering their organization to provide better care and ultimately enable their teams to save more lives within their communities. Winners were selected based on the information provided in their nominations, which was also used in their story above. This year’s winners were recognized at our yearly user conference, SUMMIT. Congratulations to all of our winners who are successfully streamlining the business side of EMS!

Interested in nominating a coworker for their achievements on the business side of EMS? Nominations will open again in Spring 2020.