Debriefing bystanders of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is valuable

To explore the concept of debriefing bystanders after participating in an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation attempt including (1) bystanders' most commonly addressed reactions after participating in a resuscitation attempt when receiving debriefing from medical dispatchers; (2) their perception of effects of receiving debriefing and (3) bystanders' recommendations for a systematic debriefing concept.

Qualitative study based on telephone debriefing to bystanders and interviews with bystanders who received debriefing. Data was analyzed using the phenomenological approach.

Six themes emerged from analysis of debriefing audio files: (1) identification of OHCA; (2) emotional and perceptual experience with OHCA; (3) collaboration with healthcare professionals; (4) patients outcome; (5) coping with the experience and (6) general reflections. When evaluating the concept, bystanders expressed positive short term effect of receiving debriefing and a retention of this effect after two months. Recommendations for a future debriefing concept were given.

Debriefing by emergency medical dispatchers to OHCA bystanders stimulates reflection, positively influencing the ability to cope with the emotional reactions and the cognitive perception of own performance and motivates improvement of CPR skills. Importantly, it increases confidence to provide CPR in the future. Implementation of telephone debriefing to bystanders at Emergency Medical Dispatch Centres is a low complexity and a low cost intervention though the logistic challenges have to be considered.