Barriers and facilitators to public access defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a systematic review.

Public access defibrillation initiatives make automated external defibrillators available to the public. This facilitates earlier defibrillation of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims and could save many lives. It is currently only used for a minority of cases. The aim of this systematic review was to identify barriers and facilitators to public access defibrillation. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken defining formal search terms for a systematic review of the literature in March 2017. Studies were included if they considered reasons affecting the likelihood of public access defibrillation and presented original data. An electronic search strategy was devised searching MEDLINE and EMBASE, supplemented by bibliography and related-article searches. Given the low-quality and observational nature of the majority of articles, a narrative review was performed. Sixty-four articles were identified in the initial literature search. An additional four unique articles were identified from the electronic search strategies. The following themes were identified related to public access defibrillation: knowledge and awareness; willingness to use; acquisition and maintenance; availability and accessibility; training issues; registration and regulation; medicolegal issues; emergency medical services dispatch-assisted use of automated external defibrillators; automated external defibrillator-locator systems; demographic factors; other behavioural factors. In conclusion, several barriers and facilitators to public access defibrillation deployment were identified. However, the evidence is of very low quality and there is not enough information to inform changes in practice. This is an area in urgent need of further high-quality research if public access defibrillation is to be increased and more lives saved. PROSPERO registration number CRD42016035543.

The use of trained volunteers in the response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest - the GoodSAM experience.

In England, fewer than 1 in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims survive to hospital discharge. This could be substantially improved by increasing bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Automated External Defibrillator use. GoodSAM is a mobile-phone, app-based system alerting trained individuals to nearby cardiac arrests. 'Responders' can be notified by bystanders using the GoodSAM 'Alerter' function. In London, when a 999 call-handler identifies cardiac arrest, in addition to dispatching the usual professional resources, London Ambulance Service automatically activates nearby GoodSAM responders. This article discusses the development of GoodSAM, its integration with London Ambulance Service, and the plans for future expansion.