In October 2020, ACP was pleased to deliver our first fully online and interactive paramedic conference. The conference attracted over 1100 attendees, 60 speakers and 36 sessions.

Presented by: Qin Xiang Ng

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic of unparalleled scale. Worldwide, there are growing concerns about the impact of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic on emergency medical services (EMS) as well as out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) survival. This was a retrospective observational study comparing data collected by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on EMS utilisation and OHCA records in Singapore from January 1 to May 31, 2020 to previous figures. Despite overall EMS call volumes and OHCA incidence remaining largely the same, there was a surprising decrease in the pre-hospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) rate from 12% to 13% in January to March (before the peak of COVID-19 cases in Singapore), to 9.6% in April and 8.0% in May 2020. This was also much lower when compared to April/May period in 2019 and 2018, where the ROSC rates remained around 12%. Further analyses did not find meaningful differences in terms of the median age of OHCA victims, the percentage of shockable rhythm or response time. However, it was noted that from April to May 2020, more OHCAs were occurring in residential homes, compared to public spaces/offices. The reported decline in prehospital ROSC requires close attention and further investigation into the possible causes and strategies to improve OHCA survival.

Biography: Dr. Qin Xiang Ng, MBBS, MPH is presently a staff officer in charge of clinical audit at the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). He is a fully qualified medical doctor and an active member of the Singapore Medical Association, the Royal Society of Physicians (UK) and the Society for Science and the Public (USA). He has broad academic and research interests in the fields of mental health, public health and evidence-based medicine. He holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). ****