Recording Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Treatment via a Mobile Smartphone Application: A Feasibility Simulation...

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Health Informatics
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) resuscitations present challenges for accurate intervention timing documentation in patient care reports (PCRs).
• The American Heart Association developed Full Code Pro (FCP), a smartphone application to aid emergency medical services (EMS) in recording intervention times.
• This study evaluated the optimal group size for accurate and safe FCP use during OHCA simulations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the necessary group size for accurate and safe use of the Full Code Pro (FCP) application during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) simulations.
• To assess the impact of group size on FCP data accuracy, recording delays, and patient care delays.
• To enhance the reliability of PCR documentation through improved timing accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 37 OHCA simulations using a standardized scenario with 142 participants (certified paramedics and students).
• Group sizes ranged from 2 to 6 participants, with data collected via feedback surveys, video analysis of delays, and intervention recording accuracy.
• Statistical analysis, including one-way ANOVA with trend analysis, was used to evaluate the effect of group size on study outcomes.

Main Results:

• Participant satisfaction with FCP increased linearly with group size (p < 0.001).
• Larger group sizes correlated with more interventions recorded (p = 0.009) and fewer recording errors (p = 0.002).
• Increasing group size led to significant reductions in both recording delays (p = 0.018) and delays in patient care (p < 0.001), with notable improvement between groups of 3 and 4.

Conclusions:

• OHCA simulations indicate that larger group sizes enhance provider comfort, improve FCP recording accuracy, and decrease care delays.
• The findings suggest that a minimum of 4 EMS personnel are needed to effectively utilize FCP for reliable data collection without compromising patient care.
• FCP has the potential to improve PCR documentation and inform future research in emergency medical response.