Dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Dispatcher-assisted resuscitation, so-called "telephone CPR" (T-CPR), by specially trained personnel is a core element of the 2010 ERC guidelines. The intention of this article is to describe the key steps for implementation without the use of commercially available products and to make a contribution to increase the percentage of bystander resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Comprehensive analysis of PubmedA (R), EMBASEA (R) and Google scholarA (R) databases using the terms (German/English) "telephone CPR", "implementation", "quality management" and "outcome", as well as presentation of the authors' own survey and quality assurance data. Recommendations for implementation and quality management in T-CPR are mainly available from North America. Almost 5 years after publication of ERC guidelines this approach has not been implemented as part of daily practice in every German dispatch centre. The importance of T-CPR for early bystander resuscitation is undisputed. Long-lasting implementation success requires a set of coordinated measures that are constantly being re-evaluated. This process includes introduction of standardised algorithms focusing on detection of abnormal breathing; debriefings including real-time analysis; outcome feedback to dispatchers and external comparison of key figures (benchmarking) using the T-CPR dataset included in the German Resuscitation Registry. Failure to provide CPR instructions may be interpreted as an organisational fault in the future.