Survey of Willingness of Police Force in New Taipei City to Participate in Prehospital Resuscitation
Survey of Willingness of Police Force in New Taipei City to Participate in Prehospital Resuscitation
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a time-critical emergency where early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and timely defibrillation using an automated external defibrillator (AED) are key to improving survival and neurological outcomes. Although Taipei has implemented dispatch-assisted CPR, delays remain between arrest recognition and AED application due to manpower and policy limitations. International guidelines, including the Global Resuscitation Alliance's ten steps to improve OHCA outcomes, recommend involving police as first responders. Prior studies from the United States and Switzerland demonstrate that police often arrive before emergency medical services (EMS), underscoring their potential role in reducing response times. However, police have not been officially included in OHCA dispatch systems in any region of Taiwan. This study aims to evaluate the willingness of police officers in New Taipei City to participate in prehospital resuscitation through a structured questionnaire. The survey also explores perceived facilitators and barriers to involvement. Findings will inform future training programs and strategies to promote police integration into prehospital emergency response systems, with the ultimate goal of improving OHCA survival rates.
For patients with emergency cardiopulmonary arrest before arriving at the hospital, every second counts, especially good early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, CPR) and early use of automated external defibrillator (Automated External Defibrillator, referred to as AED), which can increase the patient's recovery of autonomous cardiopulmonary opportunity to cycle. After the introduction of online Dispatch-assisted CPR from Taipei, the survival rate and the rate of discharge with good neurology improved. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of manpower space and policies, the proportion and time from the successful identification of cardiopulmonary arrest to the first use of public electric shock is still relatively long. Ten guidelines recommended by the Global Resuscitation Alliance to improve survival for patients with pre-hospital cardiac arrest also recommend including police as first responders. Through more intensive manpower distribution, response times and shock times can be reduced, and these advances have also successfully improved survival rates. According to studies in the United States and Switzerland in 2002 and 2017, respectively, the police arrived at the scene faster than the emergency medical technician, which is also in line with the purpose of reducing reaction time and improving the survival rate of patients. No county or city in Taiwan has officially included the police in the OHCA dispatch. This study uses a questionnaire survey to understand the New Taipei City police's willingness to participate in the first aid and resuscitation of patients with cardiopulmonary arrest before hospitalization. At the same time, we will further analyze and understand the assistance and resistance of participating in emergency resuscitation. After the study is completed, courses such as education and training will be designed according to the results, and efforts will be made to reduce resistance, so that the police can be more involved in pre-hospital emergency resuscitation, in order to further improve the survival chances of patients with pre-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest.
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Exclusion Criteria: