Can long-term ventricular assist devices be safely implanted in low-volume, non-heart transplant centres?
Long-term VADs can be implanted at low-volume, nontransplant centres with survival rates comparable with contemporary clinical trials. Availability of a specialty trained multidisciplinary team with expertise in short-term and long-term MCS options facilitates appropriate patient selection and might be more important than institutional volume in determining outcomes after implantation.
This study suggests that higher bystander SES is associated with increased rates of bystander CPR with and without dispatcher instructions. CPR training programs that target lower-SES communities and assessment of these training methods may be warranted.