Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in children. This paper describes the study protocol for the randomized control trial to test a linear cognitive aid app (RESCUER) designed to support Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians in responding to neonatal and pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (POHCA). OBJECTIVE: This randomized controlled trial (RCT) will investigate the effects of the RESCUER app compared with existing EMS practices and tools during simulated POHCAs. STUDY DESIGN: This RCT will be conducted with EMS first responders from rural and urban EMS agencies in the United States (US). EMS teams will be randomized to respond to simulated neonatal and POHCAs using either (1) the RESCUER app or (2) their current standard of care and tools. In addition to randomized assignment to intervention and control, we also will randomize the order of simulation scenarios. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes include time to complete American Heart Association (AHA) recommended steps for NRP and PALS. Secondary outcomes include participants' self-rated cognitive load, measured teamwork, and user-focused assessments of feasibility, usability and usefulness of tools.(1,2). CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that the app will decrease time to complete AHA recommended steps for NRP and PALS, compared to EMS teams' current standard of care and tools. This study will examine whether an app used by EMS teams in responding to simulated neonatal and pediatric OHCAs will improve resuscitation performance and decrease cognitive load. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT06768099 (ClinicalTrials.gov).