Dr Milena Talikowska1, Dr David Majewski1, Mr Jason Belcher1,2, Dr Stephen Ball1,2, Dr Damien Foo1, Prof. Judith Finn1
1Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 2St John WA, Belmont, Australia
Biography:
Prof Judith Finn is Director of the Prehospital, Resuscitation & Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU) in the Curtin School of Nursing, Perth, WA – St John WA being PRECRU’s principal research parter. Judith (critical care registered nurse and epidemiologist) was the inaugural Director of the Australasian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (Aus-ROC).
Abstract:
Introduction: Up to two-thirds of all emergency medical service (EMS)-attended out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) in Australia and New Zealand are unwitnessed.1 However survival is < 5% in this group.2 With the recent incorporation of pulselessness-detection technologies into consumer wearable devices3 such as smartwatches,4 the potential exists to convert otherwise unwitnessed arrests into device-witnessed cases.
Aim: To quantify the potential increase in survival for unwitnessed OHCA with the use of pulselessness-detection technologies.
Methods: We included non-traumatic, non-EMS-witnessed OHCA in patients ≥ 16 years in Western Australia (WA), 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2025. We included all EMS-attended cases but excluded patients with a do-not-resuscitate order, those for whom treatment was withheld due to malignancy/palliative care and those who achieved sustained return of spontaneous circulation after receiving a bystander shock from an automated external defibrillator. We undertook simulation modelling to estimate the expected number of additional survivors if previously unwitnessed cases were converted to device-witnessed.
Results: Our cohort comprised 11,422 cases. If 100% of previously unwitnessed cases were converted to device-witnessed, with 100% sensor sensitivity, we could expect 765 (95%CI: 699, 831) additional survivors over 5 years in WA. If only 10% of previously unwitnessed cases were converted to device-witnessed, with a sensor sensitivity of 80%, we could still expect 56 (95%CI: 25, 88) additional survivors over 5 years.
Conclusion: Even modest increases in the usage of wearable devices with pulselessness-detection technology could lead to an additional 11 survivors per year in WA.