Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES)

According to the CARES website, each year, approximately 350,000 persons in the United States experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) or sudden death; approximately 90% of persons who experience an OHCA die.

Despite decades of research, median reported rates of survival to hospital discharge are poor (10.4%) and have remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. Participation in an OHCA registry enables communities to compare patient populations, interventions, and outcomes with the goal of identifying opportunities to improve the quality of care and ascertain whether resuscitation is provided according to evidence-based guidelines.

CARES was developed to allow for quality improvement efforts and benchmarking capability to improve care and increase survival.

Overall, the CARES program seeks to:

• Work together to improve emergency cardiac care
• Help communities identify opportunities for improvement
• Expand the adoption and implementation of the registry
• Save lives through improved care and prevention