Improving Bystander CPR in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Several community-level interventions have focused on increasing the uptake of bystander CPR, but their effect on outcomes is unknown. These authors conducted a meta-analysis of 9 studies (2 from the U.S.) that assessed the effect of community interventions on survival after OHCA.

Interventions were classified as either community interventions alone (e.g., public CPR training, mandatory CPR training for students, messaging trained laypersons or first responders about local cardiac arrest sites) or community interventions coupled with changes in health services (e.g., increased ambulances, training of emergency medical services [EM…