Quantitative Measurement of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) During In Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Context: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) guidelines recommend target values for selected CPR parameters related to rate and depth of chest compressions and ventilations, and avoidance of CPR-free intervals. Recent studies on adult patients however show that rescuers often do not adhere to these guidelines. There is currently very little data on the quality of CPR performed on pediatric patients, but given the close similarity in therapy it can be expected that the adherence to Guidelines is suboptimal for this patient group as well. Feedback on quality of chest compressions and ventilations delivered during CPR are most frequently guided by a subjective "code leader", and not objective measurements. Quantitative systems that provide CPR feedback have demonstrated improvement to adult patient treatment. Based on these studies, these feedback systems (termed Quality of CPR or Q-CPR systems) were further improved in a new device called Heartstart MRx with Q-CPR option (MRx/Q-CPR). These devices have been approved by the FDA for use for patients \>8 years. The MRX/Q-CPR, attached by a cord to the defibrillator/monitor, detects, displays and records the rate, force and the depth of compressions through an accelerometer and force transducer inside the compression pad. These devices have currently been approved by the CHOP Resuscitation Committee and Medical device committee for clinical implementation in the CHOP Intensive Care units (ICU) and Emergency Department (ED). Objectives: The goal of this study is to record and analyze the data from the MRx/Q-CPR during in-hospital cardiac arrests of children \> 8 years for two research objectives. The primary research objective is to evaluate the rate, depth, and quality of chest compressions and ventilations delivered to children during in-hospital CPR. A secondary research objective is to determine the chest wall stiffness of children in order to improve quantitative CPR modeling efforts and to facilitate the construction of more biofidelic pediatric manikins for CPR simulation and test dummies for automotive safety