Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

16 PATIENT & CAREGIVER EXPERIENCE Women less likely than men to get CPR in public By Mariah Taylor W omen are less likely than men to receive CPR in public places, but older people, especially older men, are less likely to get CPR in private locations, new research has found. e study, presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress that took place Sept. 17-20 in Barcelona, Spain, analyzed 39,391 patient records of cardiac arrest outside of the hospital in Canada and the U.S. between 2005 and 2015. Here are three findings: • Bystanders performed 54 percent of CPR on patients, and women were less likely to be given CPR (52 percent) compared to men (55 percent). • When emergencies happened in public places, the difference between genders increased: 61 percent of women received CPR compared with 68 percent of men. is remained true regardless of age. • In private settings, men were about 9 percent less likely to be given CPR with every 10-year increase in age. Women were 3 percent less likely to receive CPR with every 10-year increase in age. n Why healthcare should ditch life span measures for this instead: Viewpoint By Mariah Taylor T he next national health goal should focus on health span, not life span, Dave Chokshi, MD, a physician at Bellevue Hospital and a professor at the City University of New York, both based in New York City, wrote in an opinion piece published Sept. 28 in e New York Times. Dr. Chokshi said when he talks to patients about their long-term health goals, they seldom want to live to be 100. Instead, they talk about aging with independence and dignity. "Yet our national dialogue around aging doesn't reflect this basic reality about what people value in their lives," he wrote. e average life span in the U.S. is 1.5 times higher than 100 years ago, but life expectancy has stagnated. e census projects that by 2034, more U.S. residents will be older than 65 than are younger than 18. More people are also struggling with chronic disease and illnesses at younger ages, but the current politics about who "does and does not deserve" health insurance have not risen to these challenges. "A new health moon shot should not just be oriented around increasing life spans but should focus, too, on what's referred to as health span — the years people can expect to live in good health," Dr. Chokshi wrote. "In the United States, we do not rigorously measure and report health span as we do life expectancy. Best estimates indicate that the average American can expect to celebrate only a single birthday in good health aer the traditional retirement age of 65." Dr. Chokshi suggested a target health span of 75 years for the first "bold but common-sense national goal." Measuring health span must go hand in hand with "re-engineering our health and social systems," he wrote. is includes doubling investment in primary care, which could improve patient-physician relationships, increase disease prevention and could make medical innovations more available. Mental and emotional health issues also Viewpoint: 1 problem fueling preventable deaths By Mariah Taylor A lack of emergency blood transfusions is a national crisis "fueling" preventable deaths, three physicians wrote in a JAMA opinion piece Oct. 12. The piece was written by John Holcomb, MD, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, William Hoots, MD, former director of the division of blood diseases and resources at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and Travis Polk, MD, director of the Combat Casualty Care Research Program. They wrote that not enough healthcare facilities or emergency vehicles are equipped for emergency transfusions despite a study that found blood products decrease mortality by 10%. "When all indicated blood products are available and given early, deaths due to hemorrhage decrease and care is cost-effective," the authors wrote. "However, of the 2045 hospitals to which the American Red Cross supplied blood components in 2019, 33% did not routinely have platelets ready to transfuse to bleeding patients, and more than 78% of those hospitals are in a rural setting." The problem stems from infrastructure, according to the authors, who said better collaboration between government agencies, academic institutions, and military and civilian trauma centers could produce the needed change. The piece comes after the American Red Cross declared a national blood shortage Sept. 11, saying blood and platelet supplies have fallen to "critically low levels." n

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