Podcast #227: CPR-Induced Consciousness

Author: Nick Hatch, M.D.

Educational Pearls

• CPR-induced consciousness is a phenomenon that occurs when someone who was previously unconscious and is undergoing CPR regains consciousness and makes purposeful movements.
• Studies have shown that this phenomenon is increasing, likely because of increased quality of CPR.
• Many people use a sedative such as ketamine  to keep patients unconscious to reduce the psychologic trauma of CPR.
• 39% of people who survive CPR with good neurologic details remember the process of CPR  .

References:

Joshua Pound, P. Richard Verbeek, and Sheldon Cheske. CPR Induced Consciousness During Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Case Report on an Emerging Phenomenon. 2017. Prehospital Emergency Care Vol. 21.