MP41: Crowdsourcing to save lives: A scoping review of bystander alert technologies for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Abstract

Introduction: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) constitutes a significant global health burden, with a survival rate of only 10-12%. Early intervention is vital but limited by ambulance response times, low rates of bystander assistance, and access to AEDs. Smartphone technologies have been developed that crowdsource willing volunteers to nearby OHCAs in order to initiate resuscitation prior to ambulance arrival. We performed a scoping review to map the available literature on these crowdsourcing technologies and compared their key operational features. Methods: A search strategy was developed for five online databases: Medline, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science, as well as Google Scholar. We searched for primary studies and grey literature describing mobile phone technologies that alerted users of nearby cardiac arrests in the community. Two reviewers independently screened all articles and extracted relevant study information. Subsequently, we performed a search of the Google and Apple app stores, a general internet search, and consulted experts to identify all available technologies that might not be described in literature. We contacted developers for information on technology use and specifications to create a detailed features table. Results: We included 72 articles examining bystander alerting technologies from 15 countries worldwide, owing to the increasing importance of this topic. We identified 25 unique technologies, of which 18 were described in the included literature. Technologies were either text message-based systems (n = 4) or mobile phone applications (n = 21). Most (23/25) used global positioning systems to direct bystanders to victims and nearby AEDs. Response radii for alerts varied widely from 200m to 10km. Some technologies had advanced features such as video-conferencing with ambulance dispatch and detailed alert settings. Not all systems required volunteers to have first aid training. There were 18 studies examining effects on bystander intervention, all of which showed significant improvements using the technologies. However, only six studies assessed impact on survival outcomes. Key barriers discussed included false positive alerts, legal liability, and potential psychological impact on volunteers. Conclusion: Our review provides a comprehensive overview of crowdsourcing technologies for bystander intervention in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Future work in this growing field should focus on survival outcomes and methods of addressing barriers to implementation.