Do you know who is the infamous killer from the title? AIDS? No Lung cancer? No Breast cancer? No All of them combined? No, its sudden cardiac arrest.

Watch a short documentary about the massive loss of life in the UK due to sudden cardiac arrest and ways that the death rate can be dramatically reduced.

Help the goal to place 500 public access AEDs across the UK.

Learn and perform better quality CPR with our CPR PRO mobile app. Learn how AEDs work and practice using these lifesaving machines with our AED Trainer app.

Tomorrow I will be travelling to Vienna, Austria to take part in the Resuscitation 2012 congress organised by the European Resuscitation Council. At this annual congress, which will take place from Thursday 18 October until Saturday 20 October 2012, I will be one of the members of the official Social Media Team. Our team will work HARD&FAST to bring you all the news and updates live during the Resuscitation 2012 congress.

Follow us across all our networks: Blog Facebook Twitter - use #erc12vienna hashtag to be heard! Vimeo Flickr

A week ago, Resuscitation Council UK, together with the British Heart Foundation and the famous football player Fabrice Muamba, presented a 100,000-signature petition to Downing Street in order to make CPR mandatory part of school curriculum in the United Kingdom.

European Resuscitation Council spoke with Dr. Andrew Lockey, representative of Resuscitation Council, about their efforts to increase survival rates of sudden cardiac arrest in the UK by educating thousands of school children.

To find out how you can help, visit the BHF website. Read one of my older posts, to learn what happened to Fabrice Muamba.

_Click to enlarge._

So, I am watching this big football match between Barcelona and Chelsea. Me, 100.000 people at the stadium, and millions at their homes across the World. No football fan would ever want to miss this semi final UEFA Champions League game, which is just a special treat.

Anyway, during the first half an incident happens in the Barcelona's penalty area. Didier Drogba, Chelsea attacker, was running towards Barcelona's goal, trying to catch a ball passed to him. He was followed closely by Barcelona's defender Gerard Pique. However, Barcelona's goal keeper, Víctor Valdés, got to the ball first, and in the process knocked out Pique. He deliver a forceful blow with his hip to Pique's head. It was not a pretty sight to see. His head made several uncontrolled movements, first from the blow, and then when he fell to the ground unconscious. OK. So what happens now. Me, I am thinking (and tweeting) they should immobilize this guy immediately, put a cervical collar on as a minimum, and surely not let him continue to play. OK. But what do they do. Some guys from Barcelona's medical team rush to him, start slapping him. OK. His head is flying in all directions. They are not even considering to maybe at least manually stabilize his neck. So he is lying there unconscious for 30 seconds or so. OK. He starts responding, and all is good for these guys. They get him up on his feet, literally do a 5 second exam on him, and yeah man, no worries you are good to go. Get back in there champ.

Take a look at the video.

Is it just me? Or is this totally unacceptable. And sure, what happens next. He starts feeling quite unwell, and 8 minutes after the incident asks for a substitution. The latest news is that he suffered a light concussion and was being kept overnight in a hospital as a precaution after undergoing medical tests. With the medical care he received on the pitch, he is lucky if you ask me. Here you have this extremely wealthy club in a sport that is turning billions, with players being super stars, earning more money during one minute of play, than you and me in a year. They are the most valuable assets of their clubs, and look how they are treated. OMG, is this for real. My advice to Pique and his colleagues, guys you have tons of money, get yourselves some private medical professionals who will follow you everywhere.

I really thought that these guys learned something, but it seams I was wrong. The guy who knows how medical teams at football matches suck big time, is Petr Cech, who just happened to be defending Chelsea goal when Pique was knocked out. On 14 October 2006, Cech suffered a serious head injury during a game. He and Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt both challenged for the ball inside Chelsea's penalty area within the first minute of a league match at the Madejski Stadium. Hunt's right knee hit Cech's head, leaving him with a depressed skull fracture. Initially unaware of the seriousness of the injury, the doctors later reported that it nearly cost Cech his life, and as a result of the collision, he suffered intense headaches and was warned by his doctor that returning too early could be fatal. After this incident, the South Central Ambulance Service was heavily criticized. Chelsea's manager at the time, José Mourinho, was critical of the time it took the ambulance to transfer Cech to hospital and Chelsea submitted an official complaint that led to a Premier League and Football Association review, and subsequently led to advances in emergency medical care in the UK.

Take a look at how Cech's injury occurred, and "brilliant" care he received during the first minutes.

OK. So they learned something in the UK. And what happened to Cech probably had some influence in saving Fabrice Muamba's life. He suffered cardiac arrest on 17 March 2012 during the first half of an FA Cup quarter-final match between Bolton and Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. After receiving lengthy attention on the pitch from medical personnel including a consultant cardiologist who was at the game as a fan, Muamba was taken to the specialist coronary care unit at the London Chest Hospital. Muamba had received numerous defibrillator shocks both on the pitch and in the ambulance, but has recovered well, and on 16 April was discharged from the hospital.

Due to a professional team reacting fast, Muamba's life was saved.

Unfortunately, we humans are really bad at learning for other people's mistakes. This is what happened tonight in Barcelona, and what happened just some 10 days ago in Italy. On 14 April 2012, while representing Livorno, Piermario Morosini suffered a cardiac arrest and fell to the ground in the 31st minute of the Serie B match against Pescara. The News agency ANSA reported that a city police car was blocking the stadium's exit for the ambulance for nearly a minute, but a heart specialist said that the delay made no difference. The delay made no difference. Sure, OK that makes it alright. And what about the quality of CPR provided by the medical team?

What can be seen from the available footage, the medical team was very disorganized. There was chaos on the pitch. No chest compressions were performed for a while, no chest compressions as he was put on the stretcher and transferred to the ambulance, no monitoring, no defibrillator attached, no oxygen attached to the bag valve mask, etc.

What strikes me the most is that we are talking about the best clubs and players in the World. Imagine than what is happening in less wealthy countries and in minor leagues. I am afraid to even think about that.

_This post was originally published on Tue, 02/28/2012. However, due to issues with web hosting it has been temporarily removed._

A new iOS app I have been working on with my partners for quite some time, has finally been released today in the iTunes store. This iPad specific app is called AED Trainer and can be purchased on sale for 5.99 USD for a limited time period.

AED Trainer app transforms the iPad into a life-like simulator of automatic external defibrillator (AED), allowing the users to get familiar with these life-saving devices. For those who don’t know, AEDs are electronic devices used to deliver electrical shocks to people suffering from cardiac arrest. Electrical shock, also called defibrillation, represents the only therapy for dangerous heart rhythms such as ventricular fibrillation. It is important to note that these devices are not intended to be used by healthcare professionals only. Quite the contrary, they are predominantly aimed at lay rescuers, so you might have seen them hanging on the walls of airports, train stations, stadiums, and other public places. Everyone should know how to use these devices, because cardiac arrest can happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone, and you might just be the one who can save a life. With the AED Trainer app you can experience how a live AED works, try out different scenarios, and be ready to use an actual device in case of a real emergency.

You can learn more about AEDs by watching our “How to use an AED” video.

Download AED Trainer app from the iTunes store.

I just launched a new mini website called TwittER ReaserchER. It is essentially a directory of emergency physicians across the globe who are using Twitter. The project started during research for an article about use of Twitter among emergency physicians. I started tweeting in 2008, and at that time there were only but a few emergency docs out there, but now we managed to identify almost 700 of them. The results of the analysis we performed on their accounts are currently under review in Emergency Medicine Journal. Hopefully the article will be accepted and published soon, so I can share the results with you.

On the website you can find a list of all the emergency physicians we were able to find using Twitter. Each user is represented by his/hers profile picture. If you click on it, you will be taken to the user's Twitter profile. The list is constantly updating, and if you are an emergency physician using Twitter or know someone who is, please follow @research_er to get included. On this account we also created lists organizing emergency physicians according to the year they started tweeting. You can easily subscribe to these lists.

On the site you can also see the timeline of tweets from all the emergency physicians. It is updating every hour, so you can use it to follow what emergency physicians are saying on Twitter. This way you can follow them, without even being a registered Twitter user, which you should be!

Hope you like the site. I will try to improve it and add more features soon. Of course, your ideas are always welcomed.

I have been shocked and saddened today, when I heard the news that prof. Stefek Grmec from Slovenia has passed away. He was an astonishing emergency physician and a brilliant scientists, who has organized a fantastic ambulance service in his town of Maribor. In Maribor he was also a well respected professor and Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Maribor School of Medicine. I still remember his interesting lectures about the new methods in emergency medicine, especially ultrasound and capnography, which were among his main research interests. He also organized the best conference on resuscitation I ever attended - the First Maribor Resuscitation Summit ‘’On the Future of CPR", which took place in 2010 and featured the best scientists from across the globe in the area of CPR.

I could go on and on about his professional achievements, but really what was most special about him was his kindness and openness towards his colleagues. I could always approach him, send him an email with some questions or ideas, and he was always very eager and glad to help. My deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues. Rest in peace my dear prof. Grmec.

Getting people to take notice of anything related to CPR is hard. Who cares, right? People would rather talk about Lady Gaga, sports, or whatever. Not many actually visit YouTube to search for CPR videos. So you have to be extremely creative to get their attention. Here are some great CPR ads that really get the message across to ordinary folks.

VINNIE JONES' HARD AND FAST HANDS-ONLY CPR This ad has been released about 3 weeks ago by the British Heart Foundation, and has become viral in the last couple of days on Twitter and other social networks. It features Vinnie Jones, a famous English film actor and retired Welsh footballer, as a tough mobster giving you a lesson you will never forger. A lesson in hands-only CPR. There are two versions of the ad, with slight differences like the end, and you can see them both below.

_Short version_

_Long version_

More CPR ads after the break.

CPR FIRST TIME A funny video by St John Ambulance in Australia demonstrating CPR on a drowning victim. Remember that such victims really benefit from rescue breaths, regardless of all the promotion of hands-only CPR (delivering only chest compressions).

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION American Heart Association is well know for great advertising. Here are two videos they made.

THESE HANDS

KEN JEONG AHA HANDS-ONLY CPR VIDEO Ken Jeong, an American comedian and actor, is the lead man in this ad. Did you know he is also a physician? Internal medicine specialist? Wonder what these two ladies specialize in?

SUPER SEXY CPR I saved some sweetness for the end. This CPR ad is also an actual ad for the company called Fortnight lingerie. What do you think they are selling? Nevertheless, it is a great video, and it got huge amount of attention, which is always good.

Dear readers, As most of you know, I never ever write posts in my native language. However, this time I am going to have to make an exception and call out my people in Croatia to stand up and fight for a better emergency medical system in our country. Dragi posjetitelji,

Molim Vas da izdvojite malo svoga vremena za nešto što je od neizmjerne važnosti za sve nas koji živimo u Hrvatskoj. Radi se o reorganizaciji Hitne medicinske pomoci, koju treba podržati, ali koja se na žalost ne provodi kako bi trebala. U Istri, gdje radim, pa tako i u cijeloj Hrvatskoj i dalje postoje brojni problemi s kojima se ova vrlo važna služba svakodnevno susrece. Jedan od velikih problema je nedovoljan broj ekipa na terenu i velika nejednakost izmedju velikih gradova kao što je npr. Zagreb i manjih sredina kao što su Pazin ili npr. naši otoci. Glavni razlozi zbog kojih je i zapocela reorganizacija Hitne medicinske pomoci u Hrvatskoj bili su podizanje standarda i ispravljanje nejednakosti. Nažalost, taj san koji smo dugo cekali nije se ostvario. Hitnih timova i dalje ima premalo da bi se moglo na kvalitetan nacin boriti za živote naših sugradjana u trenutcima kada život visi o koncu.

Bila reorganizacija ili ne, bila ona ovakva ili onakva, svejedno je. Naš cilj je bolja hitna služba u Hrvatskoj, pa kako god to bilo. Procitajte tekst peticije koju su pokrenuli gradjani Istre za bolju i kvalitetniju hitnu temeljenu na strucnim kriterijima. Ako se slažete, svakako je i potpišite te pošaljite svojim prijateljima. Nije bitno iz kojeg ste dijela Hrvatske, ovo je borba za svakog od nas.

Hvala.

http://peticija.hitna-pazin.org/

Just recently my colleague and I have published two research papers. I am very proud of the first one titled "MOBILE PHONE IN THE CHAIN OF SURVIVAL", which was published after a lot of research in the Resuscitation journal. This short paper gives an overview of vast possibilities possessed by mobile phones to be of assistance in medical emergencies. It represents a continuation of my work with CPR mobile applications. I have also now published a video of the lecture I gave during the Resuscitation 2010 congress about the same subject. You can watch my 10 minute lecture here, and read our paper at the Resuscitation website.

The second paper we wrote appeared in the Croatian journal Lijecnicki Vjesnik (in English this would be something like Physician's Newsletter). It is a case report demonstrating a patient with smell disorders, which we suspect were caused be lacidipine, a calcium channel blocker used to treat hypertension. So far this drug has not been linked with smell disorders, but other calcium channel blockers from the same group are well known to cause such problems. The paper is written in Croatian, but its abstracts is available in English - Can lacidipine cause smell disorders? A case report.

My dear colleague dr. Bertalan Mesko, better known as Berci, who just happens to be one of the best medical bloggers out there, has recently published his own smartphone app. You see, apart from running a super successful blog called ScienceRoll, Berci is the founder and managing director of Webicina, a site that has been helping physicians enter the web 2.0 era and empowering patients to find medically reliable content online. Webicina curates online medical resources in social media for free in over 15 languages in over 80 medical specialties and conditions, and is now also available on the phone near you. Webicina mobile application makes it easier to access these selected resources on smartphones and also includes a Health 2.0 Quiz which was designed to help empowered patients and medical professionals know more about the world of medicine and social media.

I have been testing the app on my iPhone, however it will soon also be available for other mobile platforms as well. For now you can download it for free in the iTunes store. The app is very nicely designed, and the cool thing is that you can browse through all the listed resources inside the app, without the need to go back and forward between your web browser. In just a few minutes of playing around with it, I found some great new resources and reminded myself of all the great content inside the Emergency Medicine category in which this blog is also featured. I can already see that I will be spending many hours exploring valuable new content on my phone using Webicina app, and if you want to stay on top of your game in your field, I strongly suggest you do the same.

Thank you Berci for providing such a wonderful, easy to use and free application for medical professionals and patients!

_Learn more about Webicina._

I am very proud to announce that the CPR PRO line of products I am developing through my Ivor Medical company, has been featured on MedGadget, the best online journal covering emerging medical technology. Their story features an exclusive video made especially for MedGadget in which I talk about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and demonstrate our application for smart phones as well as our CPR PRO Cradle, which makes chest compressions easier to perform.

You can watch the video here as well, but be sure to visit MedGadget since they are offering 20 PROMO CODES to the fastest readers to download the app for free.

You all know about Dilbert, right? The guy with a white dress shirt, black trousers and a red-and-black striped tie?

From WIkipedia:

Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character. The strip has spawned several books, an animated television series, a computer game, and hundreds of Dilbert-themed merchandise items. Adams has also received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award and Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1997 for his work on the strip. Dilbert appears in 2000 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 25 languages.

Well from time to time Scott Adams pokes medicine and doctors in Dilbert. And since this is very amusing and funny to me, I wanted to share the top 10 Dilbert strips about Medicine & Doctors.

Click on Read More and enjoy!

From 2nd until 4th of December 2010, the Resuscitation Congress organized by the European Resuscitation Council will take place in Porto, Portugal. This congress takes place each year in a different European country and is famous for great scientific programs.

I will be participating with two papers. On Saturday, 4 December in room Miragaia between 11:00 - 12:30, I will talk about mobile phones in the chain of survival. During the talk I will also mention my CPR invention which utilizes mobile phones to offer CPR prompts & feedback. I am also the coauthor of another paper which will be presented as a poster. Paper titled "Comparing methods for weight estimation of children" will be displayed in the Poster Room. The authors will be answering questions during the Poster Tour 22 on Friday, 3 December during lunch.

See you in Porto!