A narrative review of European public awareness initiatives for cardiac arrest

Lina Horriar; Nadine Rott; Federico Semeraro; Bernd W Böttiger

doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100390

A narrative review of European public awareness initiatives for cardiac arrest

Resusc Plus. 2023 Apr 19:14:100390. doi: 10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100390. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Lina Horriar¹, Nadine Rott^{1

2}, Federico Semeraro^{3

4}, Bernd W Böttiger^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ German Resuscitation Council, Prittwitzstraße 43, 89070 Ulm, Germany.
² University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Kerpener Straße 62, D-50937 Cologne, Germany.
³ European Resuscitation Council, Niel, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and EMS, Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy.

Abstract

A high resuscitation rate can lead to better overall survival after cardiac arrest. In Europe, various campaigns in the field of lay resuscitation are achieving up to a threefold increase in survival. As part of the new Systems Saving Lives (SSL) chapter, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) guidelines recommend cardiac awareness campaigns to engage the broader community. It has been noted that countries with high survival rates after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) start education in resuscitation techniques at school age. The ERC 2021 guidelines recommend that all schoolchildren should routinely receive CPR training each year. Since 2015, the KIDS SAVE LIVES statement recommended for two hours of instruction per year in all schools worldwide by age of 12. Cardiac awareness campaigns like World Restart a Heart Day (WRAH) are aimed to raise awareness about resuscitation and to train as many people as possible.

Keywords: Bystander CPR; Cardiac arrest; Cardiac awareness campaigns; KIDS SAVE LIVES; Lay resuscitation; World Restart a Heart.

Publication types

Review