Hsinchu Fire Bureau Wins Award for Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Research

The Hsinchu County Fire Bureau has earned a prestigious "Special Outstanding Group Award" for their groundbreaking research on automated oxygenators in pre-hospital emergency care. The award recognizes their study, "Smart Technology Saves Heartbeats - Randomised Controlled Study on the Efficacy of Automated Oxygenators (APV) in Pre-hospital OHCA Resuscitation," which has also been published in a top international medical journal.

This significant achievement is the result of a two-and-a-half-year collaborative effort between the fire bureau's Emergency Medical Services Division and a team of medical professionals from the Hsinchu Branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. The research involved multiple emergency medical teams across various fire stations, ensuring a comprehensive and multi-center approach.

Dr. Huang Pei-chuan, former director of the Emergency Department at Hsinchu Branch of National Taiwan University Hospital, led the academic aspects of the study, including trial design, statistical analysis, and manuscript writing. The fire bureau's medical advisory team provided crucial oversight, reviewing cases, scrutinizing procedures, and offering real-time professional consultation to maintain research quality.

Dr. Huang highlighted the study's international significance as the first multi-center randomized controlled trial globally to compare manual bag-valve masks (BVM) with automated oxygenators (APV) for pre-hospital resuscitation of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The findings indicated that APVs effectively reduce hyperventilation during resuscitation, a critical factor that can impede venous return and reduce the effectiveness of CPR. While APVs showed no significant difference in key outcomes like return of spontaneous circulation, survival to discharge, or neurological prognosis compared to BVMs, their safety and feasibility in pre-hospital settings were confirmed.

The research provides vital scientific evidence for pre-hospital emergency care teams worldwide, demonstrating the safety, feasibility, and clinical benefits of machine-assisted ventilation. The study's findings have already led to derivative works published in the international journal 'Frontiers in Medicine,' marking a significant advancement for Hsinchu County's pre-hospital emergency care research on the global stage.