Resuscitation Journal Study Gives RespondER AED App Honors for Public Access to Defibrillation — Health

Almost 15,000 occasional volunteer first responders ready to take action throughout Emilia-Romagna. In 13% of cases, their intervention preceded that of the emergency medical services. A life-saving net that can make the difference

March 18, 2023 – Being able to precede the services of medical emergency and provide first aid in the event of cardiac arrest in over 13% of cases. This is possible in our region, thanks to an application of public access to defibrillation that brings together a network of casual first responders widespread throughout Emilia-Romagnathanks to which it becomes possible to save more human lives.

This is confirmed by a study published on ‘Resuscitation’, one of the most prestigious international scientific journals dedicated to the application DAE Responderwhich allows intervention times to be shortened and provides a regional mapping of defibrillators in the area.

The application, developed by the 118 System and active since 2017, is fully integrated with the Region’s 118 Operations Centresand in 2018 it won the digital innovation award in healthcare of the Milan Polytechnic.

As of today they are almost 15 thousand volunteers who have downloaded the application and are ready to intervene throughout the region.

Their contribution helps to speed up rescue efforts, a decisive element in saving the lives of those affected. According to the guidelines of the European Resuscitation Council published in 2021, in fact, in the event of cardiac arrest, defibrillating within 3/5 minutes of the onset of cardiac arrest can increase the chances of survival by 50 to 70%, instead for every minute that passes without help these decrease by about 10%.

“It is an important recognition for the health of Emilia-Romagna, which was the first region in Italy to invest in an application to speed up assistance in the event of cardiac arrest – comments the councilor for health policies, Raffaele Donini-. In these cases, acting quickly means saving lives. For this I thank the thousands of volunteers who participate in the program and I invite all Emilia-Romagna people to download the AED RespondER app to become part of this network and increase the chances of survival of those affected by cardiac arrest”.

How DAE RespondER works

When the 118 Operations Center identifies a suspected case of cardiac arrest, it alerts the volunteers who have given their willingness to intervene in that sector through the app, and identifies the position of the nearest defibrillator.

Once on site, the volunteer can begin to perform any cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers, use the defibrillator and possibly deliver the life-saving electric shock.

The results of the study (105.96 KB)