Increasing Cardiac Arrest Survival Statewide

Providing quality CPR instructions to 911 callers statewide

Full Project Name:Bringing Dispatcher Assisted CPR Instructions to Every 9-1-1 Caller in WisconsinPrimary Community Organization:Wisconsin EMS AssociationPrimary Academic Partner:Jason Liu, MD, MPH, Emergency MedicineAward Amount:$581,928

Award Date

July2018

Project Duration:36 months

Project Description Narrative:

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a significant Wisconsin public health problem, affecting 6,000 people per year. Even in the most efficient EMS systems, victims who receive their first compression after EMS arrival have low survival rates. However, if bystanders provide CPR prior to EMS arrival, survival rates can double or triple. Following a successful pilot project in Milwaukee County, project partners seek to expand efforts to change the infrastructure of all 9-1-1 call centers in Wisconsin to provide every 9-1-1 caller the opportunity to increase cardiac arrest survival through dispatcher-provided, just-in-time CPR instructions.

Community partners: American Heart Association, Wisconsin Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Program, National Association for EMS Physicians Wisconsin Chapter, Project ADAM, Professional Ambulance Association, Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin State Fire Chiefs Association

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Conducted evaluation of needs, identifying and evaluating dispatcher Public Safety Answering Point (PSAPs) in four of the seven health preparedness regions of the state, holding stakeholder forums
Developed training tools and implementation toolkits, updating a pilot training program developed in Milwaukee County to better reflect the statewide nature of the current program while developing a train-the-trainer program for statewide use, rolling out new training materials through sessions across the state
Finalized and rolled out standardized quality improvement metrics and forms, as well as a continuing education curriculum
Developed a post-training survey, intended to assess the dispatch center metrics approximately 6-8 months after training
Completed trainings in three of the seven healthcare regions in the state; planned trainings for remaining regions of state were canceled due to COVID-19
Halted program due to staffing changes, beginning work to identify source to maintain program and training resources