Implementation of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest in intensive care units in Poland

Abstract

The number of ICUs using TH in Poland increased threefold in the 5 year period of 2005-2010. However, the proportion of ICUs using TH is still low (21.7%) compared to other European countries. Further efforts should be undertaken to reduce barriers to implementation of current resuscitation guidelines.

Implementation of targeted temperature management after cardiac arrest in Polish intensive care units. What has changed in the last five years?

“…Our analysis of the reasons for not cooling patients showed similar results to a previous study (lack of protocols, equipment, and experience, and problems with funding) [12]. In 2014, the Polish National Healthcare System started In our study, the distribution of TTM sites in Poland also differed compared to a previous study [12].…”

“…In 2014, the Polish National Healthcare System started In our study, the distribution of TTM sites in Poland also differed compared to a previous study [12]. In the majority of regions, TTM use had increased.…”

“…Compared with previously published data, our results show that there has been progress in the number of Polish units treating their patients with TTM (7.6%, 21.7%, and 29.2% of surveyed ICUs in 2005, 2010, and 2015, respectively; Fig. 3) [11,12]. A recently published paper analysing TTM use among Italian ICUs also showed TTM underuse [17]; however, the increase in rate of TTM use in ICUs in Italy has exceeded that in Poland since 2005 (increases of 68% and 36.5% per year, respectively).…”

“…In cases where there was no response to our first telephone call, we made at least two additional attempts at contact. The questionnaire employed in this study was based on an instrument used in previous studies [11,12] and included 13 questions regarding the prevalence of TTM after cardiac arrest regardless its location, the number of patients cooled during the previous year, the TTM methodology used, data related to cardiac arrest circumstances, and any impact of recently published data on current TTM practice.…”

“…Despite this recommendation, TTM was not promptly adopted as a standard of care in every European country [8][9][10]. Nevertheless, data from Poland showed that growing numbers of intensive care units (ICUs) were using TTM -from 7.6% of ICUs in 2005 to 21.7% in 2010 [11,12]. The aim of this study was to assess the current status of TTM use in Polish ICUs and the changes during a five-year period in TTM practices, and to study the impact of the results of two recent randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on TTM use.…”