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Objectives: The quality of telephone-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) needs improvement. This study investigates whether a dispatchers' perception is an adequate measure of the actual quality of CPR provided by laypersons., Material and Methods: Individual participant data from 3 randomized simulation trials, with identical methodology but different interventions, were combined for this analysis. Professional dispatchers gave telephone assistance to laypersons, who each provided 10 minutes of CPR on a manikin. Dispatchers were requested to classify the quality of providers' CPR as adequate or inadequate. Based on actual readings from manikins we classified providers' performance as adequate at 5-6 cm for depth and 100-120 compressions per minute (cpm) for rate. We calculated metrics of dispatcher accuracy., Results: Six dispatchers rated the performance of 94 laypersons (38 women [42%]) with a mean (SD) age of 37 (14) years. In 905 analyzed minutes of telephone-assisted CPR, the mean compression depth and rate was 41 (13) mm and 98 (24) cpm, respectively. Analysis of dispatchers' diagnostic test accuracy for adequate compression depth yielded a sensitivity of 65% (95 CI 36%-95%) and specificity of 42% (95% CI, 32%-53%). Analysis of their assessment of adequate compression rate yielded a sensitivity of 75% (95% CI, 64%-86%) and specificity of 42% (95% CI, 32%-52%). Although dispatchers always underestimated the actual values of CPR parameters, the female dispatchers evaluations were less inaccurate than the evaluations of make dispatchers; the dispatchers overall (males and females together) underestimated the adequacy of female laypersons' CPR performance to a greater degree than female dispatchers did., Conclusion: The ability of dispatchers to estimate the quality of telephone-assisted CPR is limited. Dispatchers estimates of CPR adequacy needs to be studied further in order to find ways that telephone-assisted CPR might be improved.

Objectives: We investigated the effect on compression rate and depth of a conventional metronome and a voice metronome in simulated telephone-assisted, protocol-driven bystander Cardiopulmonary resucitation (CPR) compared to standard instruction., Material and Methods: Thirty-six lay volunteers performed 10 minutes of compression-only CPR in a prospective, investigator-blinded, 3-arm study on a manikin. Participants were randomized either to standard instruction ("push down firmly, 5 cm"), a regular metronome pacing 110 beats per minute (bpm), or a voice metronome continuously prompting "deep-deepdeep- deeper" at 110 bpm. The primary outcome was deviation from the ideal chest compression target range (50 mm compression depth x 100 compressions per minute x 10 minutes = 50 m). Secondary outcomes were CPR quality measures (compression and leaning depth, rate, no-flow times) and participants' related physiological response (heart rate, blood pressure and nine hole peg test and borg scales score). We used a linear regression model to calculate effects., Results: The mean (SD) deviation from the ideal target range (50 m) was -11 (9) m in the standard group, -20 (11) m in the conventional metronome group (adjusted difference [95%, CI], 9.0 [1.2-17.5 m], P=.03), and -18 (9) m in the voice metronome group (adjusted difference, 7.2 [-0.9-15.3] m, P=.08). Secondary outcomes (CPR quality measures and physiological response of participants to CPR performance) showed no significant differences., Conclusion: Compared to standard instruction, the conventional metronome showed a significant negative effect on the chest compression target range. The voice metronome showed a non-significant negative effect and therefore cannot be recommended for regular use in telephone-assisted CPR.

Background: The medical priority dispatch system (MPDS®) assists lay rescuers in protocol-driven telephone-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)., Objective: Our aim was to clarify which CPR instruction leads to sufficient compression depth., Methods: This was an investigator-blinded, randomized, parallel group, simulation study to investigate 10 min of chest compressions after the instruction "push down firmly 5 cm" vs. "push as hard as you can." Primary outcome was defined as compression depth. Secondary outcomes were participants exertion measured by Borg scale, provider's systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and quality values measured by the skill-reporting program of the Resusci(®) Anne Simulator manikin. For the analysis of the primary outcome, we used a linear random intercept model to allow for the repeated measurements with the intervention as a covariate., Results: Thirteen participants were allocated to control and intervention. One participant (intervention) dropped out after min 7 because of exhaustion. Primary outcome showed a mean compression depth of 44.1 mm, with an inter-individual standard deviation (SDb) of 13.0 mm and an intra-individual standard deviation (SDw) of 6.7 mm for the control group vs. 46.1 mm and a SDb of 9.0 mm and SDw of 10.3 mm for the intervention group (difference: 1.9; 95% confidence interval -6.9 to 10.8; p = 0.66). Secondary outcomes showed no difference for exhaustion and CPR-quality values., Conclusions: There is no difference in compression depth, quality of CPR, or physical strain on lay rescuers using the initial instruction "push as hard as you can" vs. the standard MPDS(®) instruction "push down firmly 5 cm.", (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim of the Study: Dispatch centre processing times for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or critically ill patients should be as short as possible. A modified 'pre-alert' dispatch workflow might be able to improve the processing time., Methods: Between October 2010 and May 2011 dispatch events, suspicious for cardiac arrest, were prospectively randomized in 24h clusters. The emergency medical service of the intervention group got, based on the dispatchers impression, a 'pre-alert' alarm-message followed by the standard Medical Priority Dispatch System query whereas the control group did not., Results: In 225 clusters 1500 events were eligible for analysis. Data are presented as median and 25-75 interquartile ranges. Per-protocol analysis demonstrated for the intervention group on 'pre-alert' days a median processing time of 143 s (109-187; n=256) versus 198 s (167-255; n=502) in the control group on non 'pre-alert' days, with a difference of 0.23 log-seconds (p<0.001; 95% CI 0.74-0.28). In critical ill patients, intention-to-treat analysis showed for the intervention group a median of 168 s (131-264; n=153) versus 239 s (176-309; n=164) in the control group, with a difference of 1.4 log-seconds (p<0.001; 95% CI 1.25-1.55)., Conclusion: Dispatch times can effectively be reduced in cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or critical ill patients with a 'pre-alert' dispatch workflow in combination with the Medical Priority Dispatch System protocol. This might play an important role in improving patient care., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)