CPR iPhone app

[mariomike]

Sunnybrook and St. Michael’s Hospitals are working to bring a smartphone application to Toronto. It will integrate potential rescuers with emergency medical dispatch in such a way that they can be directed to the location of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests OHCA within the city.  The aim of the application is to increase the number of victims who receive bystander CPR and AED prior to the arrival of TFS/TEMS. Only 30-40 percent of OHCA victims in Toronto receive bystander CPR and 2% have an AED applied. Most victims of cardiac arrest do not receive any attempts at resuscitation for 5-6 minutes.

The application will use a mapping display to show the location of the user, the location of the cardiac arrest and any nearby AEDs on the screen of the smartphone. The application will use the location of the smartphone to determine which users to activate, as on-duty professional rescuers are being dispatched.

They are targeting off-duty paramedics, fire fighters and eventually, qualified citizens.
The ability to toggle the cardiac arrest alert function on and off will be built in.

It is currently only active in San Ramon, California.
More information about the application in this public service video:
http://www.pulsepoint.org/

 

[mariomike]

Regarding citizen CPR.

Thu Oct 13 2011
"Bystanders have an obligation to perform CPR, physicians say":
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1069110
“It is not acceptable that vast numbers of witnessed cardiac arrest victims do not receive bystander CPR,”
Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians

"The recommendations were welcomed by Toronto paramedics, who too often arrive at the scene to find no one is helping the victim."

 

[X Royal]

Regarding citizen CPR.

Thu Oct 13 2011
"Bystanders have an obligation to perform CPR, physicians say":
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1069110
“It is not acceptable that vast numbers of witnessed cardiac arrest victims do not receive bystander CPR,”
Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians

"The recommendations were welcomed by Toronto paramedics, who too often arrive at the scene to find no one is helping the victim."

As a legal obligation this is completely false and the statement is misleading.
Even in Quebec where there is a requirement to assist it does not necessarily mean a bystander has to perform CPR. A simple call for assistance can meet this responsibility.
As an instructor of CPR I agree that prompt CPR when required is ideal and even poorly performed CPR is better than no CPR.
That being said there is no way to determine how an individual will act to a extremely stressful situation especially if they have no experience dealing with these or similar situations. Proper training will help prepare some to respond effectively but 100% response will never occur.
In the Forces we use a similar approach to training with constant reputation to ingrain proper responses to stressful situations. The big difference is in the Forces we just don't teach it once and than expect proper responses years later without refresher training. Also in the Forces we are able to input far more stress into the training than what is put into a civilian CPR course.

 

[mariomike]

As a legal obligation this is completely false and the statement is misleading.

Nothing about legal. It's strictly voluntary.
They said it was a "recommendation from emergency physicians" "a moral obligation" "a social expectation"  "urged bystanders to step in" 
"EMS dispatchers reached through 911 will help with instructions on how to perform CPR"
Citizens can wait for the firefighters and paramedics to arrive if they wish.

Edit to add PSA video:
http://pulsepoint.org/app/

 

[X Royal]

Cut & paste of article title.
Bystanders have an obligation to perform CPR, physicians say

Nothing about legal. It's strictly voluntary.
They said it was a "recommendation from emergency physicians" "a moral obligation" "a social expectation"  "urged bystanders to step in" 
"EMS dispatchers reached through 911 will help with instructions on how to perform CPR"
Citizens can wait for the firefighters and paramedics to arrive if they wish.

The reason I said misleading is most people only read the headline which does not differentiate between moral or legal obligation.
This headline could leave some to believe that there is a legal obligation.
Yes the body of the article states it's a "recommendation from emergency physicians" but the facts are many people don't get past the headlines.