ERC Research NET – The Network for Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation Research in Europe
ERC Research NET –
The Network for Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation Research in Europe
Bernd W. Böttiger,
for the members of the ERC Research NET
May 8, 2017
Corresponding Author
Bernd W. Böttiger, M.D., M.L., D.E.A.A., F.E.S.C., F.E.R.C.
Director Science and Research, European Resuscitation Council (ERC)
Chairman, German Resuscitation Council (GRC)
Professor and Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine
University Hospital of Cologne
Kerpener Straße 62
D-50937 Köln
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel.: +49 221 478-82054 and 478-82052
Fax: +49 221 478-87811
http://anaesthesie.uk-koeln.de/
“To preserve human life by making high quality resuscitation available to all” is the mission of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC; www.erc.edu; www.resuscitation2017.eu). And the “Formula for Survival” following cardiac arrest highlights: Survival = Science x Education x Implementation [1]. Therefore, science and research in the field of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care is – besides education and implementation – one of the major goals and objectives of the ERC [2].
As a consequence, and with strong support from the Board and the General Assembly of the ERC, the ERC Research NET – an international interdisciplinary and interprofessional group for clinical and epidemiological studies in the field of cardiac arrest and resuscitation research in Europe and beyond – is active since its foundation during the ERC Congress RESUSCITATION 2013 in Krakow. Since then, we have met face-to-face at every annual ERC congress, and we have proposed, discussed and presented ongoing and published studies for and from the ERC Research NET Group. Moreover, information about studies planned by members of the ERC Research NET is provided to the group via different communication paths. This enables colleagues, centers and systems from different cities, regions and countries to participate in clinical ERC Research NET projects, and it generates future research ideas, proposals and visions.
We have already established a lot of very important and strong achievements for ERC in this area within these years: a very active ERC Research NET Group, the publication of several ERC studies from the ERC network [3-9], ERC research funding from the EU Commission with participation in the ESCAPE-NET consortium [www.erc.edu], various KIDS SAVE LIVES research activities [3,4,8], the first ERC Research Summer School in September 2017 in Freiburg [https://www.erc.edu/projects/erc-research-net-1st-erc-research-summer-school] – and others. Therefore, the ERC Research NET is already an excellent initiative and achievement for ERC.
Goals and objectives of our collaboration
The major goals and objectives of the ERC Research NET are:
- To maintain and further increase the role of ERC as partner in ESCAPE-NET and further EU-funded multidisciplinary, multinational research projects in cardiac arrest and CPR.
- To maintain the ERC’s leading role in European multinational multidisciplinary cardiac arrest registries – out-of-hospital and in-hospital.
- To further develop the ERC Research NET Group.
- To finalize and publish ongoing ERC projects, studies and impulses – with the branding “ERC Research NET”.
- To use the high levels of energy and the outstanding motivation of many colleagues who have been and are already active in our network to put ERC in a very visible position in resuscitation research in Europe and worldwide.
- To encourage young researchers in Europe and elsewhere for ERC and for research in the network and under the umbrella of ERC.
Already published ERC studies and research initiatives
One of the most important epidemiological ERC research projects is the EuReCa (European Registry of Cardiac Arrest) project, connecting different European regional and national resuscitation registries for comparative epidemiological research and analyses [5,6,9]. The goals of the EuReCa project are: international benchmarking with detecting areas of weakness in patient care, detecting areas of improvements and assure that interventions are effective [5,9]. With this guidance from international European data, ERC will further develop as an organization playing a key role to improve public health and survival following out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest in Europe. In EuReCa ONE, cardiac arrest and CPR registries from 27 European nations have participated. More than 10,000 data sets have been sampled and analyzed from October 1 through October 31, 2014 [6].
Further studies that have already been published within and from members of the ERC Research NET are the EUROCALL Study [7], the KIDS SAVE LIVES European Survey [8] and the KIDS SAVE LIVES – ERC position statement on school children education in CPR. “Hands that help – Training children is training for life” [3]. In the meantime, this statement has already been translated and published in 12 different European languages since 2016 [www.erc.edu], and it is available as the KIDS SAVE LIVES video – “Saving a life is a child’s play” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yf4umHnD3c (this video is free for distribution in all channels).
Ongoing ERC studies and initiatives
ERC is very proud to be one partner within the ESCAPE-NET (“European Sudden Cardiac Arrest network: towards Prevention, Education, New Effective Treatment”) – an EU Commission funded European consortium [http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/207233_en.html].
In this project, leading European scientific teams which have created large relevant population cohorts, mostly dedicated to SCA research, join forces to fully exploit available data towards improving SCA management. This will be done through building a unique and growing database of >100,000 (DNA) samples including >20,000 SCA patient samples, by combining existing European databases and infrastructures, by identifying risk factors (inherited, acquired, environmental) and first-response treatment strategies that may explain the differences in SCA occurrence and survival between European countries. This will be facilitated by collaborating with professional networks, such as the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) and the ERC. Future aims of the ESCAPE-NET participants are to translate the outcomes into European clinical practice for the prevention of SCA, and European infrastructures to improve survival after SCA [http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/207233_en.html].
The next study of the EuReCa Group – EuReCa TWO – will be performed in the last three months of 2017. The study protocol has been finalized and was sent out to all EuReCa National Coordinators. One major focus of EuReCa TWO will be lay CPR all over Europe [https://clinicaltrials.gov > NCT03130088].
In the ERC Dispatch Centre Survey (EDiCeS), 44 EDiCeS centers were participating in 2014, and another actual survey to detect development over time is planned for 2017 [https://www.erc.edu/projects/edices].
With and within all these studies, the ERC – and via the ERC Research NET – has set up a structure to stimulate and actively support colleagues, systems and networks in Europe and elsewhere to partner in clinical and experimental resuscitation research. And because the ERC Research NET Group will help to answer important research questions in the future very fast, it is also planned to facilitate collaborative projects and activities between industry – in particular our ERC business partners – and the ERC Research NET.
First ERC Research Summer School
The aims of the 1st ERC Research Summer School are to foster continuity and increase the visibility of the ERC as a scientific organization and to support European research in the field of SCA, resuscitation and postresuscitation care [https://www.erc.edu/projects/erc-research-net-1st-erc-research-summer-school]. Therefore, ERC will further invest in and strengthen European resuscitation research and help and get input from young investigators during and after the 1st ERC Research Summer School in Freiburg in September 2017. A one day meeting will be performed as pre-conference event prior to ERC RESUSCITATION 2017 – with it`s motto “Society saving lives - How can we save lives by empowering an entire society to work together? This will be the starting point for an at least five-year process involving more senior researchers mentoring junior researchers in a strong supporting partnership to increase ERC-related scientific output in the field of resuscitation.
Focus topics for the ERC Research Summer School will be: 1. Dispatch centers / first responder – telephone CPR – APPs – bystander CPR; 2. KIDS SAVE LIVES / schoolchildren education in resuscitation; and 3. EuReCa Registry / other ERC Research NET Studies (i.e. ESCAPE-NET)
Ten ERC theses and goals for improving resuscitation research
The basis for the ERC Research NET development are the 10 ERC theses and goals for improving resuscitation research, which have been proposed in 2015:
1. Sudden cardiac death is one of the major health care issues.
2. National and international research activities will help to save thousands of lives annually in Europe.
3. Resuscitation research is a must for politics and for the society.
4. Telephone CPR must be available and performed nationwide in all European countries.
5. To register each cardiac arrest with CPR must become mandatory in all European countries.
6. Different systems of care should perform benchmark activities for scientific projects and quality assurance.
7. Every year, at least one study out of the ERC research NET is published.
8. Politicians need to be approached for attention and increase in funding.
9. ERC research can be done and should be encourages in partnership and collaboration with our sister societies and with other relevant organizations.
10. In-hospital cardiac arrest needs to get much more in focus.
The ERC Research NET will help to further connect different individuals, groups, systems and networks within resuscitation research in Europe and elsewhere, and to reach another level of European collaboration in this important live-saving field. This will make ERC highly visible in the field of multicenter, multinational, interdisciplinary and interprofessional resuscitation research in Europe – and worldwide.
Acknowledgement
Our cordial thanks go to all individuals, organizations, ERC business partners, networks and national as well as European politicians and political institutions which support ERC resuscitation research and ERC Research NET currently and over the last years.
Conflicts of Interests
Bernd W. Böttiger is European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Board Director Science and Research; Associated Editor, European Journal of Anaesthesiology (EJA); Associated Editor, Resuscitation; Editor, Notfall + Rettungsmedizin; Speakers honorarium from BARD, Baxalta, Bayer Vital, Medupdate, FoMF; Chairman, German Resuscitation Council (GRC); Board Member, German Society of interdisciplinary Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI)
References
1. Søreide E, Morrison L, Hillman K, Monsieurs K, Sunde K, Zideman D, Eisenberg M, Sterz F, Nadkarni VM, Soar J, Nolan JP; Utstein Formula for Survival Collaborators. The formula for survival in resuscitation. Resuscitation 2013 Nov;84(11):1487-93. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2013.07.020. Epub 2013 Aug 3
2. Monsieurs KG, Nolan JP, Bossaert LL, Greif R, Maconochie IK, Nikolaou NI, Perkins GD, Soar J, Truhlář A, Wyllie J, Zideman DA; ERC Guidelines 2015 Writing Group. European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2015: Section 1. Executive summary. Resuscitation. 2015 Oct;95:1-80. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2015.07.038. Epub 2015 Oct 15
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4. Böttiger BW, Semeraro F, Wingen S. "Kids Save Lives": Educating Schoolchildren in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Is a Civic Duty That Needs Support for Implementation. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Mar 14;6(3). pii: e005738. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005738
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7. Nikolaou N, Castrén M, Monsieurs KG, Cimpoesu D, Georgiou M, Raffay V, Koster R, Hunyadi-Antičević S, Truhlář A, Bossaert L; EUROCALL investigators. Time delays to reach dispatch centres in different regions in Europe. Are we losing the window of opportunity? - The EUROCALL study. Resuscitation. 2017 Feb;111:8-13. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2016.10.026. Epub 2016 Nov 14
8. Semeraro F, Wingen S, Schroeder DC, Ecker H, Scapigliati A, Ristagno G, Böttiger BW. KIDS SAVE LIVES implementation in Europe: A survey through the ERC Research NET. Resuscitation. 2016 Oct;107:e7-9. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2016.08.014. Epub 2016 Aug 22
9. Wnent J, Masterson S, Gräsner JT, Böttiger BW, Herlitz J, Koster RW, Rosell Ortiz F, Tjelmeland I, Maurer H, Bossaert L. EuReCa ONE - 27 Nations, ONE Europe, ONE Registry: a prospective observational analysis over one month in 27 resuscitation registries in Europe - the EuReCa ONE study protocol. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2015 Jan 24;23:7. doi: 10.1186/s13049-015-0093-3