Policy Priority Issue
[Name of Student]
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Policy Priority Issue
Sudden cardiac arrest in the medical world is termed as a condition whereby the heart unpredictably stops beating. The act of the heart stopping to beat interferes with the blood flow to the brain and other vital organs in the body. The stopping of blood flow in the body is attributed to an electrical disturbance in the heart (Miller, 2013). If SCA is not treated immediately one might die. Sudden cardiac arrest is distinct from heart attack; the latter occurs once blood flow to a portion of the heart is stopped. Sudden cardiac arrest is considered a medical emergency since delayed treatment may result in death. The kind of medical care that can be administered to an individual in such circumstance is cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Another form of medical care that can be employed is the use of a defibrillator. The defibrillator is a medical tool which sends electrical currents to the heart in a bid to restore the normal heartbeat. The public can use an automated external defibrillator to revive an individual who has just suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (Hidenreich et al., 2013).
Sudden cardiac arrest has affected the society by threatening the health of different segments of the population. As stated above, cardiovascular diseases are more often than not related with the elderly. Sudden cardiac arrest has proved more devastating than other diseases because it happens to the younger generation. It is even more unfortunate because it often happens to young adults and adolescents ranging from 0.5 up to 20 for every 100,000 individual years (Berger, 2012). It should be tallied among the most dangerous diseases and placed as one of the major priorities for disease control organizations and institutions. Sudden cardiac arrest has become a serious health problem for adolescents since less than 10% of students affected survive these attacks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States make an estimation of about 2200 people under the age of 26 dying of SCA. The paper will provide an insight to the policy analysis with regard to sudden cardiac arrest. It will also highlight on the feedback of a policymaker with regard to sudden cardiac arrest.
Policy Issue Analysis
There have been policies aimed at reducing the effects of sudden cardiac arrest in schools. One of them is pre-participation physical evaluation. This is the requirement that all student athletes should be tested for any cardiovascular disease before being allowed to participate in any field activity. This is aimed at eliminating the students who are bound to be negatively affected by highly strenuous exercise routines. However, controversy on the issue is based on the fact that the effectiveness of simple fitness tests is limited against the diverse causes that may cause Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Furthermore, surveys have shown that though this system should be implemented in all schools, the rules accompanying the exercise are a little or not at all understood by most school authority bodies. The compliance levels for the guidelines are therefore minimal which demeans the purpose for which the policy was developed. This requires amending policies or other supporting policies to help bridge the gap of implementation in schools (JC, 2013).
Currently, many business enterprises do not have AEDs since they have the notion that SCA will not happen in such a place. A number of businesses overlook this device since they argue it incurs necessary expenses on businesses. However, the state of California has imposed a law (the CA Bill 1507) that required all health clubs to have an AED. The state of California implements the ‘Good Samaritan Law’ to safeguard the operator of an AED as long as he/she uses the given guiding principles. However, the increasing number of AEDs did not translate to improved survival rates. Therefore a proper way of dealing with this concern would be to introduce SCA screening.
Recommendations
Due to the fact that the aforementioned policies were not effective as they were meant to be, a number of recommendations have been lined up to provide a long term resolution. Critics of the pre-participation physical evaluation are of the opinion that the practice should be broadened to encompass students who are not athletes. Alternatively, critics of the CA Bill 1507 which proposed the use of AEDs in public places argued that the adoption of such policies did not increase the mortality rate of individuals. Therefore they opted for the implementation of SCA screening because it would lead to fewer deaths contributed to SCA.
How can you find out the current status of this issue?
The current status of the issue (SCA) can be obtained from the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS). NEMSIS strives for the consistent collection of EMS data. The driving forces behind NEMSIS are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and finally the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thus far, all states have adopted the NEMSIS which contains all patient records regardless of whether you are treated for SCA or any other disease. The benefits that accrue from the NEMSIS program are the standardized collection method. Nevertheless, the data collected by the National EMS Information System may fail to portray all the EMS activities within the state. The reason behind the aforementioned statement is that the data collected through this method is self-reported and misses important status thus its maintenance is restricted.
The Level of Government That I Target
The level of government that I target is the Federal government. The federal government has members of congress who are called representatives. This arm of the government is charged with the responsibility of making laws by approving bills. This fact leads me to Jerry L. Stebelton who is the state representative serving in the Ohio house of representative. To further research on the policies passed or in progress concerning the issue, I scheduled a meeting with Jerry L. Stebelton who is the state representative serving in the Ohio house of representative for his fourth term. He represents the 77th District. Jerry Stebelton has influence on the education sector because he is the chairman of the education committee in the Ohio House of Representatives. Through this detailed discussion I discovered that Representative Stebelton is further driven towards the elimination of sudden Cardiac Arrest in schools because his son was diagnosed with Cardiac Arrhythmia at an early age. Having this position and insight about the disease, his efforts are highly advantageous in the policy making process concerning the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Issue.
His main point of consideration is that other than concentrating on testing and preventing students with heart conditions from participating in sporting activities, there should be preventive measures in place to help those who get these attacks even without participating in sports. This would include well trained personnel who would be the first responders to such attacks. The earlier the condition is recognized and treated, the higher the chances of survival will be. Jerry Stebelton is therefore looking into the development and implementation of policies that will help the treatment of students with such attacks right at the school therefore reducing the chances of sudden cardiac death (SCD) while on their way to hospital or awaiting treatment. This approach was encouraged by the fact that in the recent past there have been two students in the local school system that have experienced sudden cardiac arrest but survived as a result of timely response by bystanders and EMS. This emphasizes that measures to encourage responsiveness may save more lives in the future.
Representative Stebelton has used some of the existing house bills to try and reduce the increasing effects of sudden cardiac arrest in adolescents. He has done this through proposing some alterations in the bills and also actively supporting the positive aspects of the existing bills to further his cause. His actions are well illustrated through his actions concerning the House Bill no. 247. The House bill no. 247 states that those who operate an AED must be CPR certified. In support of this, Jerry Stebelton has continued to fight that all teachers become CPR certified in order to increase the number of personnel eligible to respond to cases of sudden cardiac arrest in schools. On the other hand, he proposed an amendment to House bill no. 247 to exclude the clause that requires all responders to be CPR certified. This would create the opportunity for bystanders and other untrained personnel to save lives without the inhibition of certification (General Assembly of the State of Ohio, 2013).
However, if this bill passes, there will be a need to train these teachers on how to conduct first aid and use an AED. This would prevent the risk of putting the students in more danger by trying to help without the required knowledge and skill. To support this, he has been working hand in hand with the Heart Safe Program, initiated by the local Fairfield medical centre. This program is aimed at training students and teachers on how to respond to cases of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Students are trained on how to recognize when a sudden cardiac arrest attack is happening, how to administer CPR and finally how to contact EMS. With this kind of training, these attacks will claim less and less lives in the school environment. The advantage of this program goes beyond the fact that students get to know on how to respond to serious attack situations. It also creates the opportunity through which others get to know of a disease that is relatively not known especially to affect children. This sensitization of people in the society creates an awareness that will help curb the deaths from this disease not only in the school environment but also in homes among other environments.
Conclusion
Sudden cardiac arrest has caused an increase in the death of teenagers especially in schools. It is important to note that effective responsiveness in an attack situation could save the lives of these children. Jerry Stebelton of the Ohio House of Representatives is doing a commendable job in trying to make the environment better to curb death as a result of sudden cardiac arrest. He has however not looked into the standardization of the pre-participation sports assessment but is inclined towards further research in the area leading to discussion on the subject. The government should conduct constant assessments in order to evaluate the implementation of the policies that are passed. This will ensure that all policies in one sector work together towards the set goals other than some policies not being implemented while new ones are developed. These alternative policies however does not undermine the need to continue campaigns on changing lifestyles in aspects such as what people eat and situations in which they work. These are still very serious contributors to the increase in cardiovascular diseases not only in the nation but in the entire world.
References
Heidenreich. et al. (2013). AHA Policy Statement: Forecasting the Future of Cardiovascular Disease in the United States. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from American Heart Association: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2011/01/24/CIR.0b013e31820a55f5.abstract
Berger, S. (2012, December 19). Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Death in Children. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from Up to Date: www.uptodate.com
General Assembly of the State of Ohio. (2013). HB 247. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from General Assembly of the State of Ohio: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=130_HB_247
JC, M. N. (2013). Sudden cardiac death screening in adolescent athletes: an evaluation of compliance with national guidelines. Br J Sports Med .
Miller, W. C. (2013). Statistical brief #409 U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2010Heart Disease among Elderly Americans: Estimates for the. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey & Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
