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Cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of death in Germany. Every year, around 80,000 to 100,000 people die from sudden cardiac death. Fortunately, however, many patients can also be successfully resuscitated. If resuscitation takes place outside a hospital, further treatment in a specialized hospital is crucial for the further course of recovery. The University Medical Center Freiburg has now become the first hospital in southern Germany to be certified as a "Cardiac Arrest Center". The University Emergency Center (UNZ, Department of Conservative Emergency Medicine, Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Busch) and the Department of Internal Medicine III (Interdisciplinary and Internal Intensive Care Medicine) of the University Medical Center Freiburg as well as the Department of Cardiology and Angiology I of the University Heart Center Freiburg ∙ Bad Krozingen (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Bode) are involved.

"The certification is an important step towards improving the care structure and survival of resuscitated patients," says Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Busch, Medical Director of the Department of Conservative Emergency Medicine at the University Emergency Center at Freiburg University Medical Center. A Cardiac Arrest Center (CAC) is characterized by a high level of expertise and special equipment. "The current international guidelines on resuscitation call for patients who have been successfully resuscitated prehospital to be treated in specialized hospitals. Until now, however, there were no uniform criteria for such centers," says PD Dr. Tobias Wengenmayer, Section Head of the Chest Pain Unit and Senior Physician in the Department of Cardiology and Angiology I at the University Heart Center Freiburg ∙ Bad Krozingen. Last year, under the leadership of the German Resuscitation Council (GRC) in cooperation with the German Society of Cardiology (DGK), the starting signal was given for this certification, in which 100 interested clinics throughout Germany took part. The University Medical Center Freiburg is one of eight pilot clinics that has now been successfully audited.

The certification process was preceded by a multi-year process to define the criteria for a Cardiac Arrest Center. To this end, an interdisciplinary working group of anesthesiologists, cardiologists and intensive care physicians drew up basic requirements for Cardiac Arrest Centers for the first time. The criteria were unanimously approved by the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI), the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) and the German Society of Internal Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN) and published in the societies' specialist journals. The corresponding audit procedure was then developed with the support of the CertIQ certification company.

Criteria for certification

• A special structure with a suitable emergency room facility for resuscitated patients, a cardiac catheterization laboratory available around the clock with the possibility of immediate primary PCI, the possibility of direct transfer of resuscitated patients also in the catheterization laboratory, permanent availability of a place in the intensive care unit with proof of specialist intensive medical care and the existence of a local quality circle for resuscitation care.
• Ensuring adequate process quality with evidence of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Quality assurance with evidence of standardized recording of the course of treatment and the outcome up to discharge.

Contact: 
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Busch 
Medical Director 
Department of Conservative Emergency Medicine 
University Emergency Center 
University Medical Center Freiburg 
Phone: 0761 270-33282 
hans-joerg.busch@uniklinik-freiburg.de

PD Dr. Tobias Wengenmayer 
Section Head Chest Pain Unit 
Senior Physician 
Clinic for Cardiology and Angiology I 
University Heart Center Freiburg ∙ Bad Krozingen 
Phone: 0761 270-35910 
tobias.wengenmayer@universitaets-herzzentrum.de