Cell phone cardiopulmonary resuscitation: audio instructions when needed by lay rescuers: a randomized, controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
Given the ubiquitous presence of cellular telephones, we seek to evaluate the extent to which prerecorded audio cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions delivered by a cell telephone will improve the quality of CPR provided by untrained and trained lay rescuers.


METHODS
We randomly assigned both previously CPR trained and untrained volunteers to perform CPR on a manikin for 3 minutes with or without audio assistance from a cell telephone programmed to provide CPR instructions. We measured CPR quality metrics-pauses (ie, no flow time), compression rate (minute), depth (millimeters), and hand placement (percentage correct)-across the 4 groups defined by being either CPR trained or untrained and receiving or not receiving cell telephone CPR instructions.


RESULTS
There was no difference in CPR measures for participants who had or had not received previous CPR training. Participants using the cell telephone aid performed better compression rate (100/minute [95% confidence interval (CI) 97 to 103/minute] versus 44/minute [95% CI 38 to 50/minute]), compression depth (41 mm [95% CI 38 to 44 mm] versus 31 mm [95% CI 28 to 34 mm]), hand placement (97% [95% CI 94% to 100%] versus 75% [95% CI 68% to 83%] correct), and fewer pauses (74 seconds [95% CI 72 to 76 seconds] versus 89 seconds [95% CI 80 to 98 seconds]) compared with participants without the cell telephone aid.


CONCLUSIONS
A simple audio program that can be made available for cell telephones increases the quality of bystander CPR in a manikin simulation.
Merchant
Raina M
RM
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. raina.merchant@uphs.upenn.edu
Abella
Benjamin S
BS
Abotsi
Edem J
EJ
Smith
Thomas M
TM
Long
Judith A
JA
Trudeau
Martha E
ME
Leary
Marion
M
Groeneveld
Peter W
PW
Becker
Lance B
LB
Asch
David A
DA
D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods; D040421:Cell Phone; D018961:Educational Technology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008348:Manikins; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D014728:Veterans / Q000193:education; D055815:Young Adult