February 8, 2016 – In Hospital CPR

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Anchor lead:  Can CPR in hospitals be streamlined? Elizabeth Tracey reports

When people who are hospitalized have a heart attack, inserting instruments to assist their breathing is most often standard issue. But now a new study calls that practice into question, finding that those who were put on breathing machines died in greater numbers than those who were not. Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, says studies such as this one are important in improving patient care.

Martin: These are really fascinating results and I think it really speaks to the point that we need to constantly challenge ourselves, ask ourselves is what we do the right thing, just because we’ve done it for years or decades is this truly the right thing? If we have new data, bring those to bear, ask the question, can we do better? Challenge the conventional wisdom, ultimately this leads to better care. This is the promise of big data.   :27

Martin says gathering such information on practices that just seem to be the right thing are underway in every area of healthcare, and are likely to impact on many more standard operating practices in medicine. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.