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Project Reboot: A Resource for Improving Community Response to Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Submitted by Clement Yeh on July 30, 2012 - 9:59am Last revised by Web Producer on August 25, 2014 - 10:06am.
Proposal Status: 
Review Complete

Reboot Cardiac Arrest: A UCSF Community CPR Registry Website

 

Description:

One of the earliest critical links in the “Chain of Survival” for victims of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is rapid initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by bystanders.

 

Bystander CPR rates in San Francisco are relatively low. Communities that have invested in improving bystander CPR have shown improved overall survival of victims of SCA. In San Francisco, local efforts to train the public in mass events have resulted in increased awareness, but the actual number of CPR-trained persons in the region is unknown. In particular, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of “layperson” bystander CPR and organizing local community efforts to respond to cardiac arrest.

 

UCSF is a leader in medical training, emergency and cardiac care, and through its training efforts plays a large role in community response to sudden cardiac arrest. This project will establish a local CPR registry in order to facilitate improved community response to cardiac arrest.

 

Deliverables:

The Project Reboot website will combine CPR registry, social media hub, and aggregate local resources for cardiac arrest response.

 

Objectives for Project Reboot Website:

  • Provide the public and UCSF community with local resources for CPR training
  • Allow layperson and certified CPR-trained individuals to self-report their skill level
  • Allow CPR instructors to list students that have been trained
  • Remind users of expiration of CPR certification
  • Provide information about recent updates to resuscitation guidelines
  • Coordination of CPR teaching event materials and volunteers
  • Promote CPR awareness using social media networks such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter

Impact:

A website of San Francisco specific local CPR resources will have a direct impact on patient care and public safety. A registry of information about CPR trained individuals will be extremely useful to measure the impact of community outreach and inform decisions on strategies to improve overall survival. The website will also serve as a clearinghouse and hub for information about advances in cardiac care, resuscitation protocols and community training events.

 

Team Members:

Clement Yeh, UCSF Emergency Medicine Faculty: Project lead (40 hours)

Justin Schorr, Paramedic: Website design/programming, Content creation (40 hours)

Alexandra Teng, UCSF Medical Student, Cardiac arrest survivor: Content creation (20 hours)

Julian Villar, UCSF Emergency Medicine Resident: Content creation (20 hours)

Jay Connolly, EMT-B:  Technical expertise, Content creation (20 hours)

 

Contact:

clement.yeh@emergency.ucsf.edu

Comments

Enrique Terrazas - July 30, 2012 - 11:09am
Raising awareness of CPR and interest in training would certainly have a positive effect on public safety, and would provide a model for other cities to emulate. "Allow CPR instructors to list students that have been trained" - would need some type of consent process if this information is exposed to the public.

Clement Yeh - July 31, 2012 - 11:15am
Thanks Enrique. Agreed, a consent process by the users to have their information shared will be part of the database. Users will have the option of how much information that they wish to receive and share. As an online tool, it's an important balance between fostering community and removing any barriers to use by addressing information sharing concerns.

Teresa Moeller - July 31, 2012 - 10:19am
Can you use a "grinder" type app to notify CPR trained individuals when there is another trainee close by? This would foster live interaction/ discovery in the community.

Clement Yeh - July 31, 2012 - 11:20am
Very good idea. Other communities have used location information to geotag things like public defibrillators (AEDs) but to my knowledge there have not been any similar use for CPR trained persons. It could certainly facilitate interactions and training opportunities, as well as simply encouraging non-trained individuals to get instruction.

Anirvan Chatterjee - August 1, 2012 - 2:36pm
You mention using social media to try to bring users to the website, but have you considered a search-based strategy? If that's a good fit, you may want to consider (1) what potentially-regional search terms would you want the site to come up as a top result for, (2) what do you offer that existing top-ranking search results (e.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=san+francisco+cpr) don't, and (3) how will you structure your content and attract links to get to that top spot?

Clement Yeh - August 2, 2012 - 3:09pm
Thanks, Anirvan. Search-directed traffic to the website will certainly be important. I think you are absolutely correct that it will be the content that attracts users and therefore affects search rankings. One notable absence in the search results above is the availability of a non-commercial local resource. A common website that aggregates local information for users in the form of a self-reported registry regardless of certification organization (AHA, ASHI, or none of the above) would provide a novel resource and I think would be the driver of visitors to the site. Furthermore, it could be useful to explore link-exchange with other organized sites that get higher traffic, and/or targeted marketing such as Google's AdWords.

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