Real-Time Chest Compression Quality Measurements by Smartphone Camera.

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Digital Health
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) presents a significant global mortality challenge.
• Digital health strategies offer potential to improve survival rates in OHCA.
• Effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is critical for OHCA patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of real-time CPR quality measurement using smartphone video analysis.
• To assess the accuracy of a smartphone application in measuring chest compression rate and other CPR parameters.
• To evaluate the potential of this technology for improving CPR delivery during emergencies.

Main Methods:

• A web-connected smartphone application utilizing the device's camera was developed.
• The application detected chest compressions and provided real-time feedback to callers and dispatchers.
• Key metrics measured included compression rate, time to first stable compression rate (TFSCR), active compression time (TC), hands-off time (TWC), average compression rate (ACR), and total compressions (NC).
• Five experiments were conducted to test the accuracy of the system under various conditions.

Main Results:

• The average compression rate detection error was 2.7 compressions per minute (±5.0 cpm).
• The calculated chest compression rate was accurate within ±10 cpm 98% (±5.5) of the time.
• The average error for summary CPR parameters (TFSCR, TC, TWC, ACR, NC) was 4.5% (±3.6).

Conclusions:

• Real-time CPR quality measurement using smartphone camera analysis is feasible in simulated cardiac arrest scenarios.
• This technology has the potential to enhance CPR quality provided by lay rescuers and improve dispatcher coaching.
• Further validation in real-world OHCA situations is warranted to confirm its clinical utility.