Purpose: Danish out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors have described their wish for information and rehabilitation after their OHCA. However, little is known about whether these needs are being met by Danish healthcare services, whether this has changed over time or if reported unmet needs are influenced by sex.
Methods: October 2020-March 2021, all adult OHCA (years 2016-2019) survivors, identified through the Danish OHCA Registry, were sent an electronic or postal survey asking if their post-CA information/rehabilitation needs were met (11 items, Figure 1). Survivors responded on a 4-point Likert-scale ‘Yes to a high level’ to ‘No, not at all’ or ‘Don’t know’. Responses ‘Yes, to a great extent’ were defined as ‘Needs met’, and ‘Yes, to some extent’/‘Yes, to a lesser extent’/‘No, not at all’ defined as ‘Unmet needs’. For change over time, participants were split into four groups:12-24 months after OHCA, 25-36, 37-48, and 49-56. Differences in proportions between time groups and sex were tested by Pearson chi-square test.
Results: In total, 58% of survivors responded (n=1,233, 81% men, mean age 62±13 years at OHCA). Unmet information needs were highest for the topics emotional reactions, mental challengesandmeaning for friends and family, and lowest for treatment, and medication for heart conditions. Unmet rehabilitation needs were highest for the topics peer support and mental challenges and lowest for physical activity. Unmet needs were consistent across time groups (p=0.97 to 0.08). Women expressed a significantly higher proportion of unmet needs across topics (p=0.01 to <.001) except for medication for heart condition and return-to-work.
Conclusions: Despite increased recognition of the need for post-OHCA information/rehabilitation in Denmark, the prevalence of unmet needs expressed by survivors remains static. There is an urgent need to address these gaps in clinical practice, particularly the emotional and mental consequences of OHCA.

Do Danish healthcare services meet the information and rehabilitation needs of Danish out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors?

Implementation of the Guidelines - How do we put the new ERC Guidelines into practice?

On 16 and 17 June, we are organising our first-ever hybrid congress. You will be able to join us live at the beautiful conference venue in Antwerp, Belgium and present your Poster. 

We are happy to welcome you to Resuscitation 2022!