ATCEMS Performance Dashboard > Return of Pulse in Cardiac Arrest > Performance Measure Definition: Cardiac Arrest Arrival at Facility with a Pulse
Performance Measure Definition: Cardiac Arrest Arrival at Facility with a Pulse

Description: This is the percent of patients who have a return of pulse (aka return of spontaneous circulation, or ROSC) while in EMS care before arrival at a receiving facility.
Desired Outcome: As many patients as possible who are treated for cardiac arrest by EMS arrive at the hospital with a pulse.
Relevance: Patients who have a return of pulse prior to their arrival at a hospital have an increased chance of survival from their cardiac event.
Measure Domain: Clinical Care
Type of Measure: Outcome

Operational Specifications
Formula Description: This indicator is calculated by dividing the count of patients that arrive at the hospital with ROSC by the count of all patients. This measure is limited to patients whose arrest is presumed have cardiac causes, and for whom ATCEMS personnel attempted resuscitation.
The resulting value is reported as a percentage.
Unit of Analysis: Patient contact
Population: 
  • Numerator: Patients meeting inclusion criteria who arrive at a receiving facility with a spontaneous pulse.
  • Denominator: All patients meeting inclusion criteria
Measure Frequency: Quarterly
Minimum Population/Sample: None
Performance Standard: At least 30% of patients with attempted resuscitation by ATCEMS will experience ROSC each quarter.
Acceptable Quality Level: Performance may not fall below 20% for more than two consecutive quarters or any three quarters in a year without special cause.
Interval Description: Not applicable
Reporting Value: Percentage of patients meeting inclusion criteria that have ROSC.
Aggregation: Aggregate patients based on date/time of phone pickup in Communications Center for incident.
Stratification: None
Limitations: This indicator does not include cardiac arrests that do not have cardiac causes, such as trauma, poisoning, or respiratory causes.
Related Measures: None
Notes: None

Reporting
ATCEMS Open Performance Dashboard
City of Austin Open Data Portal
Travis County Performance Dashboard
City of Austin Performance Measures Database
  • Performance Measure: 1448 - Percent of patients in cardiac arrest from cardiac causes delivered to an appropriate medical facility with a return of circulation
  • Orientation: External
  • Aggregation Level: Fiscal quarter
  • Update Frequency: Quarterly


References
Interlocal Agreement Between the City of Austin and Travis County for Emergency Medical Services (Fiscal Year 2014)

Metadata
Development Status: Actively reporting
Definition Version: Version D
Revision Date: 2017-02-02
Revised By: David Andersen