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ALACHUA COUNTY – A smartphone app that alerts nearby CPR-trained individuals to cardiac emergencies is significantly increasing the likelihood that bystanders step in to help before emergency crews arrive, according to a new study by UF Health researchers.

The study, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, found that bystander CPR rates outside hospital settings rose substantially in Alachua County following the local activation of PulsePoint, a 911-connected app that notifies users when a nearby cardiac arrest occurs and requests immediate assistance.

Researchers compared bystander CPR rates shortly after PulsePoint was introduced locally in 2019 with rates from June 2020 through September 2023. In 2019, about 43 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases involved bystander CPR. During the later study period, 57 percent of PulsePoint-related cases involved CPR before emergency medical services arrived — a 33 percent increase.

“We have always known anecdotally that PulsePoint has made an impact on the community, but this is an important way of showing the causality between the app’s use, instances of bystander CPR, and scientifically reviewing the impact it’s had on patient outcomes,” said Dr. Torben Becker, the study’s senior author and an associate professor in the University of Florida College of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

UF Health partnered with Alachua County emergency services in 2018 to implement PulsePoint across North Central Florida, an area with nearly 300,000 residents. The app is now available in more than 5,500 communities nationwide.

Early CPR is critical, Becker said, because brain damage can begin within minutes of cardiac arrest. Prompt bystander intervention helps preserve organ function long enough for advanced treatments to be effective.

For select patients, UF Health uses extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or ECPR, which relies on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, to oxygenate blood outside the body before returning it to circulation. In 2023, UF Health saved its first heart attack patient using ECPR — a 63-year-old man whose adult daughter began CPR before emergency responders arrived.

“You need to have that first link in the chain of survival for top-notch methods and tools to work,” Becker said.

While many PulsePoint responders identified in the study were off-duty health care professionals, Becker said expanding CPR training among the general public could further improve outcomes.

“By training more people outside of health care in CPR, we can leverage tools like PulsePoint to their full potential,” he said.

For Becker, the data underscores more than just improved response rates.

“We’re helping the community at large, but each success means someone can spend another holiday with their family, can watch their grandchildren grow up,” he said.

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Email cwalker@

alachuatoday.com

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