Experts gather for International Resuscitation Conference 2007

RESUS 2007

Every year up to 360 people die as a result of overcrowding in Irish hospitals, delegates heard at the 2007 RESUS International Resuscitation Conference and Skills Showcase held at the South Court Hotel last weekend. Fergal Hickey, President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine said that: ‘An overcrowded hospital should now be regarded as an unsafe hospital.’ He was referring to Australian research which showed conclusively the link between Emergency Department overcrowding and mortality rates.

RESUS is an event that aims to increase survival for cardiac arrest, trauma resuscitation, road traffic accidents and poisonings, according to Geraldine Quinn of the HSE. The two day event was chaired by Dr Cathal O’Donnell, Emergency Consultant in Limerick and Ennis Regional Hospitals and was attended by 450 people from the medical, nursing, emergency and voluntary services. It combined presentations from national and international experts; a demonstration of emergency service providers in action and a national skills showcase and competition.

Quoting from the HSE’s Emergency Taskforce Report Findings, published last June, Mr Hickey said that the overcrowding problem is not the fault of Emergency Departments themselves, but a symptom of a lack of hospital capacity and community services.

He said that conditions in Emergency Departments, along with the constant barrage of criticism of them in the media, criticism which is often unjustified in his view, have a detrimental effect on morale, resulting in serious problems for the departments retaining and recruiting staff. ‘Why would want to you work in a relative hellhole?’ he asked.

He also expressed his grave concerns about how Irish hospitals would cope with a SARS-type epidemic in the future. He recalled that in the 2003 Canadian SARS outbreak, one person carrying the respiratory disease caused the infection of 128 patients and staff on a Toronto emergency ward resulting in 17 deaths. He predicted the figures would be far grimmer should something similar happen on an Irish emergency ward.

The conference also heard from Michael Hughes of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service who spoke about paramedic preparedness for terrorist attacks. His message was that the attitude of, ‘It could never happen here,’ has to be scrapped, so that the emergency services are, ‘Prepared for it when it does.’

Dr Joe Treacy, Director of the National Poisons Information Centre outlined some facts that have been becoming all too apparent from recent news stories – that ecstasy use has plummeted, while cocaine use is going up. The chances of death from cocaine are quadrupled when it is taken with alcohol, he said. Deaths resulting from cocaine use are increasing exponentially. Earlier delegates heard from Gardaí that in a sample of recent cases involving people driving under the influence of intoxicants, 50% of the offenders had been driving under the influence of illegal substances.

Teams of emergency service personnel from across the country took part in competitions demonstrating the best provision of emergency life support and resuscitation skills. The winning teams came from the Dublin Fire Brigade, Red Cross Limerick and Lough Derg Lifeboat Station.

On Friday Limerick County Fire & Rescue Service, the Midwest Ambulance Services and members of the Garda Traffic Corps demonstrated best practice in managing road traffic casualties and safe patient removal techniques in a re-enactment of the aftermath of a crash.

‘It’s just to show people what it’s like,’ said Garda Tony Miniter of the Limerick Traffic Corps, explaining why they staged the reconstruction. ‘To see the dirty raw edge of it can even catch the medical experts by surprise.’

Garda Miniter fronts the Lifesaver Project, a pilot initiative aimed at showing young people in the Midwest the harsh consequences of dangerous driving. Their message is ‘Especially important coming up to Christmas time,’ he added.