TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of non-cardiac arrest PulsePoint activations in public and private settings
AU - Blackwood, Jennifer
AU - Daya, Mohamud R.
AU - Sorenson, Ben
AU - Schaeffer, Brian
AU - Dawson, Mike
AU - Charter, Michael
AU - Nania, James Mark
AU - Charbonneau, Julie
AU - Robertson, Jeremy
AU - Mancera, Michael
AU - Carbon, Chris
AU - Jorgenson, Dawn B.
AU - Gao, Mengqi
AU - Price, Richard
AU - Rosse, Chris
AU - Rea, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Background: Geospatial smartphone application alert systems are used in some communities to crowdsource community response for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Although the clinical focus of this strategy is OHCA, dispatch identification of OHCA is imperfect so that activation may occur for the non-arrest patient. The frequency and clinical profile of such non-arrest patients has not been well-investigated. Methods: We undertook a prospective 3-year cohort investigation of patients for whom a smartphone geospatial application was activated for suspected OHCA in four United States communities (total population ~1 million). The current investigation evaluates those patients with an activation for suspected OHCA who did not experience cardiac arrest. The volunteer response cohort included off-duty, volunteer public safety personnel (verified responders) notified regardless of location (public or private) and laypersons notified to public locations. The study linked the smartphone application information with the EMS records to report the frequency, condition type, and EMS treatment for these non-arrest patients. Results: Of 1779 calls where volunteers were activated, 756 had suffered OHCA, resulting in 1023 non-arrest patients for study evaluation. The most common EMS assessments were syncope (15.9%, n=163), altered mental status (15.5%, n=159), seizure (14.3%, n=146), overdose (13.0%, n=133), and choking (10.5%, n=107). The assessment distribution was similar for private and public locations. Overall, the most common EMS interventions included placement of an intravenous line (43.1%, n=441), 12-Lead ECG(27.9%, n=285), naloxone treatment (9.8%, n=100), airway or ventilation assistance (8.7%, n=89), and oxygen administration (6.6%, n=68). Conclusions: More than half of patients activated for suspected OHCA had conditions other than cardiac arrest. A subset of these conditions may benefit from earlier care that could be provided by both layperson and public safety volunteers if they were appropriately trained and equipped.
AB - Background: Geospatial smartphone application alert systems are used in some communities to crowdsource community response for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Although the clinical focus of this strategy is OHCA, dispatch identification of OHCA is imperfect so that activation may occur for the non-arrest patient. The frequency and clinical profile of such non-arrest patients has not been well-investigated. Methods: We undertook a prospective 3-year cohort investigation of patients for whom a smartphone geospatial application was activated for suspected OHCA in four United States communities (total population ~1 million). The current investigation evaluates those patients with an activation for suspected OHCA who did not experience cardiac arrest. The volunteer response cohort included off-duty, volunteer public safety personnel (verified responders) notified regardless of location (public or private) and laypersons notified to public locations. The study linked the smartphone application information with the EMS records to report the frequency, condition type, and EMS treatment for these non-arrest patients. Results: Of 1779 calls where volunteers were activated, 756 had suffered OHCA, resulting in 1023 non-arrest patients for study evaluation. The most common EMS assessments were syncope (15.9%, n=163), altered mental status (15.5%, n=159), seizure (14.3%, n=146), overdose (13.0%, n=133), and choking (10.5%, n=107). The assessment distribution was similar for private and public locations. Overall, the most common EMS interventions included placement of an intravenous line (43.1%, n=441), 12-Lead ECG(27.9%, n=285), naloxone treatment (9.8%, n=100), airway or ventilation assistance (8.7%, n=89), and oxygen administration (6.6%, n=68). Conclusions: More than half of patients activated for suspected OHCA had conditions other than cardiac arrest. A subset of these conditions may benefit from earlier care that could be provided by both layperson and public safety volunteers if they were appropriately trained and equipped.
KW - Crowdsourcing
KW - Emergency medical services
KW - Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
KW - Prehospital
KW - Social media
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85165879517&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12873-023-00849-z
DO - 10.1186/s12873-023-00849-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 37501072
AN - SCOPUS:85165879517
SN - 1471-227X
VL - 23
JO - BMC Emergency Medicine
JF - BMC Emergency Medicine
IS - 1
M1 - 79
ER -