Study objective: To examine the effect of fire department first-responder defibrillation on time to defibrillation in a mid-sized community with two tiers of emergency medical services (EMS) ambulance response.
Design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: The study area was the region of Hamilton-Wentworth, which has more than 445,000 inhabitants and covers 1,136 km2 (438 square miles).
Type of participants: We studied 297 victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest presenting to the EMS system between May 1, 1990, and April 30, 1991.
Measurements and main results: The mean defibrillation interval was decreased from 11.96 minutes to 8.50 minutes (P < .001) by the introduction of fire first-responder defibrillation. Survival was significantly greater with bystander-witnessed arrest, initial rhythm of ventricular fibrillation, and presence of a pulse on arrival in the emergency department.
Conclusion: In our EMS system, fire first-responders were able to provide defibrillation in significantly shorter times than ambulance attendants. Other EMS systems should review their response times and consider instituting first-responder defibrillation as one means of reducing defibrillation intervals.