Text Alerts for Bystanders Improve Outcomes from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is dismally low and depends on early cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation. These authors report the effect of a novel text messaging system to alert trained volunteers when a cardiac arrest is occurring near them.

The Dutch province of Limburg implemented a system of text messaging for 61,000 trained volunteers, and placed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in residential areas. When emergency medical services (EMS) dispatchers received a call for suspected cardiac arrest, they activated the text messaging system simultaneously with the usual EMS response. Three volunteers within 1 km of the patient (based on zip codes) received texts directing them to the location and instructin…