Project Summary  

This research project is in progress. PCORI will post the research findings on this page within 90 days after the results are final.

What is the research about?

Patients who have been in the hospital for heart disease have a high risk of sudden cardiac arrest after they go home. Cardiac arrest is when a person’s heart stops beating properly without warning. If a person having cardiac arrest gets CPR, they are two or three times more likely to live. But when cardiac arrest happens at home, family members may not know how to give CPR.

This research study compares two ways of teaching families CPR before they take a family member with heart problems home from the hospital. The first is a kit with a self-instructional video. The second is a free mobile app. By teaching family members CPR before heart patients leave the hospital, researchers hope that fewer people who have cardiac arrest at home will die.

Who can this research help?

The results of this research study may help patients with heart problems and their families as well as healthcare providers who provide CPR training.

What is the research team doing?

The research team is working in several hospitals to teach families CPR using the American Heart Association’s Family and Friends CPR Anytime, a kit with a self-instructional video. The team also worked with cardiac arrest survivors and their families to build a free mobile app for CPR training. Now the team wants to find out which is better for teaching CPR, the video kit or the app.

The research team is training 1,300 family members of heart patients in eight hospitals. Half of the family members are getting the kit, and the other half are getting the mobile app. The research team is testing how well family members remember how to perform CPR six months after the training. They are finding out if family members shared the training with other people in their family and if any of the family members has needed to perform CPR. Also, the research team is using a survey to find out how family members feel about performing CPR.

Research methods at a glance

Design Element	Description
Design	Randomized controlled trial
Population	Adults (18 years and older) who are at the hospital with a family member who is at high risk for cardiac arrest. Participants must speak English and/or Spanish.
Interventions/ Comparators	CPR training via video-self-instruction kit CPR training via mobile app
Outcomes	Primary: chest compression depth, chest compression rate Secondary: secondary CPR training, incidence of bystander CPR provided by subjects
Timeframe	6-month follow-up for primary outcomes

More on This Project

Project Details

Principal Investigator

Benjamin Abella, MD, MPhil

Project Status

In PCORI Peer-Review Process

Project Title

CPR Education for Families of Cardiac Patients before Hospital Discharge: Comparing Methods for Real-World Dissemination

Board Approval Date

April 2015

Project End Date

April 2021

Organization

University of Pennsylvania

Year Awarded

2015

State

Pennsylvania

Project Type

Research Project

Health Conditions  

Cardiovascular Diseases

Coronary or Ischemic Heart Disease

Intervention Strategies

Technology Interventions
Training and Education Interventions

Populations

Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Urban
Women

Funding Announcement

Communication and Dissemination Research

Project Budget

$1,813,975

Study Registration Information

HSRP20153454

NCT02548793