Cell Phone Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Audio Instructions When Needed by Lay Rescuers: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

• Published in: Annals of emergency medicine Vol. 55; no. 6; pp. 538 - 543.e1
• Main Authors: Merchant, Raina M., MD, MS, Abella, Benjamin S., MD, MPhil, Abotsi, Edem J., BA, Smith, Thomas M., RN, Long, Judith A., MD, Trudeau, Martha E., RN, MPA, Leary, Marion, RN, Groeneveld, Peter W., MD, MS, Becker, Lance B., MD, Asch, David A., MD, MBA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Mosby, Inc 01.06.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation - education; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation - methods; Cell Phone; Educational Technology; Emergency; Emergency and intensive cardiocirculatory care. Cardiogenic shock. Coronary intensive care; Female; Humans; Intensive care medicine; Male; Manikins; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Veterans - education; Young Adult; Rescuer; Intensive care; Resuscitation
• ISSN: 0196-0644; 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2010.01.020

Study objective Given the ubiquitous presence of cellular telephones, we seek to evaluate the extent to which prerecorded audio cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions delivered by a cell telephone will improve the quality of CPR provided by untrained and trained lay rescuers. Methods We randomly assigned both previously CPR trained and untrained volunteers to perform CPR on a manikin for 3 minutes with or without audio assistance from a cell telephone programmed to provide CPR instructions. We measured CPR quality metrics—pauses (ie, no flow time), compression rate (minute), depth (millimeters), and hand placement (percentage correct)—across the 4 groups defined by being either CPR trained or untrained and receiving or not receiving cell telephone CPR instructions. Results There was no difference in CPR measures for participants who had or had not received previous CPR training. Participants using the cell telephone aid performed better compression rate (100/minute [95% confidence interval (CI) 97 to 103/minute] versus 44/minute [95% CI 38 to 50/minute]), compression depth (41 mm [95% CI 38 to 44 mm] versus 31 mm [95% CI 28 to 34 mm]), hand placement (97% [95% CI 94% to 100%] versus 75% [95% CI 68% to 83%] correct), and fewer pauses (74 seconds [95% CI 72 to 76 seconds] versus 89 seconds [95% CI 80 to 98 seconds]) compared with participants without the cell telephone aid. Conclusion A simple audio program that can be made available for cell telephones increases the quality of bystander CPR in a manikin simulation.