unrestrained and doing CPR in the back of vehicles traveling at high speeds pose major safety risks. He said, “These devices don’t fatigue or change the delivery, meaning it can deliver high-quality CPR for as long as required while freeing up the paramedic, keeping them seated and belted and able to focus on other critical aspects of patient care on a journey. It ultimately acts as a robotic third crew member for our teams.” The specialists at SCAS redesigned the device from one that was tested by SCAS clinicians in 2014 as part of the PARAMEDIC preliminary headed by the University of Warwick and published in The Lancet.
According to Professor Charles Deakin, divisional medical director for SCAS and chief for resuscitation, “The LUCAS device transforms the management at a cardiac arrest and allows paramedics to focus on the key aspects of clinical care. It will be an invaluable part of the team and contribute to the already outstanding results that SCAS have achieved in saving lives of these patients.”
The South Central Ambulance Charity has provided funding for 28 of the units, which will help crews in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire. LUCAS machines are also being deployed at the NHS for resuscitation in hospital emergency rooms and in intensive care units and also for patients taking treatment for life-saving coronary balloon angioplasty and stenting methods to enlarge narrowed arteries.
