Abstract 289: Volunteer Responders Find It Meaningful to Attend to Pediatric Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests

Abstract

Background: In Denmark, volunteer responders have been dispatched to suspected pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) through a smartphone application since February 2022. However, it is unknown how volunteer responders experience assisting pediatric OHCAs. Aim: To explore how volunteer responders experienced being involved in pediatric OHCAs. Method: The study population comprised volunteer responders alerted to an OHCA patient <6 years of age in Denmark (2020-2023). Data was collected through individual, semi-structured interviews. Data analysis followed an inductive process with a phenomenology-hermeneutical interpretative approach. Using thematic analysis data was indexed into codes and themes, generated to draw out meaning from the text. Results: Eight volunteer responders had assisted at six different pediatric OHCAs. Participant age ranged from 24-60 years, five were men, three were healthcare workers, and four provided CPR. Among the pediatric OHCAs, three were < 6 months and three were 2-5 years old, none survived. Five themes emerged from the analysis: “The shock when realizing the patient is a child”, “Volunteer responders’ capability to act and initiate CPR in a child”, “Doubts and thoughts during resuscitating a child”, “Interaction with the family during resuscitation” and “The aftermath: the overwhelming fact, that it was a child”. Despite experiencing the sight of a child with OHCA as overwhelming, volunteer responders managed to act and provide CPR. Volunteer responders also considered the provision of psychological support to the parents as an important task. Taken together, volunteer responders found it meaningful to be alerted to a child and were ready to do it again, even though it is a severe experience. Conclusion: Volunteer responders found it meaningful to assist a pediatric OHCA, despite the shock of discovering that the patient was a child. Including information on suspicion of pediatric OHCA in the app alert may mitigate this shock and better prepare volunteer responders to assist pediatric OHCAs.