Spotlight: Retrieving Pre-Hospital Rhythm Strips After Cardiac Arrest – Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze

Explore the Spotlight:Critical information about a patient’s cardiac arrest often exists before they arrive at the hospital—but it is frequently inaccessible to the clinical team. In this CardiQ Spotlight, Camille Conway, NP, Amanda Breuer, PA-C, and Sunil Vasireddi, MD, share how their organization developed a multidisciplinary process to retrieve pre-hospital rhythm strips from community AEDs and emergency medical services (EMS). Through collaboration, workflow redesign, and continuous evaluation, they demonstrate how connecting pre-hospital and hospital care can improve diagnostic accuracy, personalize treatment decisions, and strengthen the continuum of care for patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Why This Matters:Quality improvement doesn’t stop at the hospital doors. Some of the most valuable clinical information is generated before a patient ever reaches the emergency department. This Spotlight demonstrates how building partnerships across the continuum of care—and creating a reliable process to retrieve critical clinical data—can improve clinical decision-making, enhance patient care, and strengthen collaboration among healthcare providers and community partners.

CardiQ Framework: This Spotlight demonstrates the following CardiQ Framework pillars:

	Prepare: Recognize the gap in access to pre-hospital rhythm information and evaluate how missing data affects clinical decision-making following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
	Engage:  Build partnerships with EMS, emergency management, community organizations, healthcare teams, and industry partners to support rhythm strip retrieval.
	Design: Develop a standardized workflow for identifying, retrieving, and incorporating pre-hospital rhythm strips into clinical care.
	Implement: Educate care teams, establish communication pathways, and continuously refine the retrieval process through real-world experience.
	Report: Evaluate retrieval success, assess clinical impact, and determine how rhythm strip acquisition influences diagnosis, treatment decisions, and patient outcomes.
	Sustain/Scale: Expand organizational awareness, strengthen community partnerships, and explore future innovations that simplify rhythm strip retrieval and support broader adoption.

 

1. Recognize the Opportunity: Why does obtaining pre-hospital rhythm information matter?

Every quality improvement initiative begins by recognizing an opportunity to improve care. Learn why obtaining pre-hospital rhythm strips from community AEDs and EMS provides critical clinical information that can improve diagnostic accuracy, guide treatment decisions, and better explain the events leading to an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Estimated viewing time: 3 minutes.

2. Build the Coalition: Who needs to be involved?

Improving care across the continuum requires collaboration far beyond the hospital walls. Discover how partnerships with EMS, emergency management, community organizations, healthcare providers, and industry partners created the foundation for a successful rhythm strip retrieval program. Estimated viewing time: 3 minutes.

3. Design the Workflow: How does the retrieval process actually work?

Turning an innovative idea into routine practice required thoughtful workflow design. Hear how the team developed a standardized process for locating community AEDs, retrieving rhythm strips, coordinating with stakeholders, and integrating critical information into patient care. Estimated viewing time: 4.5 minutes.

4. Demonstrate Clinical Value: Is the effort worth it?

The answer was a resounding yes! Explore how access to pre-hospital rhythm strips changed diagnoses, influenced treatment decisions, prevented unnecessary procedures, and improved communication with patients and families. Estimated viewing time: 4 minutes.

5. From Project to Practice: How do you make the process sustainable?

Long-term success required more than a successful pilot. Learn how education, standardized workflows, organizational support, and continuous collaboration transformed an innovative project into a sustainable clinical practice.. Estimated viewing time: 5 minutes.

6. Lessons Learned: What advice would they give other organizations?

Every quality improvement journey offers valuable lessons. Hear the team’s reflections on overcoming challenges, engaging stakeholders, and the practical advice they would share with organizations interested in implementing a similar initiative. Estimated viewing time: 6 minutes.

7. Looking Ahead: What’s Next?

Innovation doesn’t stop with implementation. Explore opportunities to expand community partnerships, collaborate with industry, leverage future technology, and continue improving care for patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Estimated viewing time: Xx minutes.

Putting it Into Practice

• Start with an important clinical question. Many successful quality improvement initiatives begin by challenging assumptions and asking whether a better approach is possible.
• Build relationships before you need them. Strong partnerships with EMS, emergency management, community organizations, and other stakeholders are essential for creating sustainable cross-continuum workflows.
• Design workflows that support consistent practice. Standardized processes make it easier for care teams to retrieve critical information efficiently and reliably.
• Measure clinical impact, not just process improvements. Evaluating how new workflows influence diagnosis, treatment decisions, and patient outcomes helps demonstrate the value of quality improvement initiatives.
• Think beyond organizational boundaries. Some of the greatest opportunities to improve patient care occur through collaboration across the entire continuum of care—not just within the walls of the hospital.