Smartphones have changed the way we live and have proved invaluable in emergencies. It seems that there’s an app for everything, and now an app is helping to save lives.
The GoodSAM (Good Smartphone Activated Medics) app was developed in the UK and initially released in April 2014. It has now been adopted by a number of ambulance services around the world, including St John in New Zealand where it was launched in April this year and has over 2200 registered responders.
How it works
Evidence shows that first aid such as opening airways, stemming the bleeding, or providing CPR in the first few minutes after a serious health incident can dramatically improve the outcome for patients. The GoodSAM Alerter app allows people to dial emergency services and also sends an alert to the three nearest responders who have installed the GoodSAM Responder app. The responder can then start CPR or provide other basic first aid until emergency services arrive.
Registered responders include nurses, doctors, paramedics, police officers, firefighters, surf life savers and others with first aid qualifications. According to the GoodSAM website, there are currently more than 19,000 volunteers registered.
Victoria is first to adopt new technology
A growing and ageing population has seen an increase in the number of heart attacks in Australia. For every minute a critically ill patient goes without CPR or defibrillation, their survival chances decrease by 10 to 15 percent. In the Australian state of Victoria, emergency response times are on average just under eight minutes. Over the past decade, bystander CPR response to cardiac arrest has almost doubled and public defibrillator (AED) usage has increased by 600 percent. According to Ambulance Victoria data, the chance of someone surviving a heart attack increases by 3 percent if bystanders intervene.
This week the GoodSAM app rolled out across the state of Victoria after a four-month trial involving off-duty paramedics during which the lives of two cardiac arrest patients were saved. Ambulance Victoria introduced the smartphone app in partnership with the Country Fire Authority (CFA), a volunteer-based emergency service organisation. After a call is made to triple zero, the app sends an alert to the three closest responders, within 400 metres in Melbourne and five kilometres in country Victoria. The app also directs responders to the nearest available defibrillator. The cost of integrating the system is estimated to be $800,000 and is supported by the Victorian government as a resource to help first responders save more lives.
In Victoria, three-quarters of cardiac arrests occur within the home. While the Victorian public are being told not to be alarmed if an off-duty lifesaver arrives on their doorstep, health professionals registered with AHPRA are being encouraged to sign up to the program as volunteer responders. To register, health professionals and other trained responders will need to upload a driver’s license or passport via the GoodSAM app website, and agree to the Code of Conduct. The process of verifying that responders are medically qualified can take up to a week.