By Mike McEvoy
EMS Editor
A landmark study of compression citizen CPR in Arizona published in the October 6, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reported not only substantial increase in citizens providing CPR (28 percent in 2005 to 40 percent in 2009) but also significantly improved survival (7.8 percent with conventional CPR versus 13.3 percent with compression-only CPR). Furthermore, in the patient population most likely to benefit from resuscitation: patients with witnessed collapse from a shockable rhythm, compression-only CPR increased survival from 18 percent to 34 percent. The Arizona statewide CPR initiative, Save Hearts in Arizona Research and Education (SHARE) program (www.azshare.gov), was launched in 2004.
