Spotlight on Research

Consciousness may occur during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) despite the absence of a palpable pulse. The phenomenon, known as CPR-induced consciousness (CPR-IC), was first described over three decades ago and there has been an increase in case reports describing it. However, there remains limited evidence in relation to the incidence of CPR-IC and to practitioners' experiences of it.

This mixed-methods cross sectional survey of UK paramedics sought to establish if paramedics had experienced CPR-IC during their career and to provide further description of any such event. The researchers were also interested in whether the CPR-IC interfered with the resuscitation attempt and, if so, what actually caused the interference.

Of the 276 eligible participants who completed the survey, 57% had experienced CPR-IC, with the majority of those having experienced it on more than one occasion. The most commonly described signs of consciousness were eye opening and active looking, intelligible and unintelligible sounds, and physical movements such as purposeful arm movements, interfering with airways and resisting CPR.