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EARTHDATE: April 3, 2011

Official News page 6


REAL LIFE NEWS: IPHONE APP SAVES LIVES

by Hazed

Fans of Apple's tech products often credit the gadgets with amazing powers, but now a new app for the iPhone really could save lives. The new app talks doctors through the steps needed to save the life of somebody who has suffered a heart attack, and according to a recent trial it really does help.

The free app was developed by Dr Daniel Low, consultant anaesthetist. He explained, "Every year approximately 30,000 people in the UK have an unexpected cardiac arrest in hospital and, despite significant advances in resuscitation research, survival rates for adults suffering a cardiac arrest remain poor."

Low and his colleagues discovered that in cardiac arrest situations, doctors are under severe time pressure and may be outside their personal specialist area. As a result, one of the main problems is getting drug dosages right - there are a lot of variables that affect the amount of adrenaline or other drugs that should be administered, depending on the situation, the patient, what the latest research says and so on.

So they came up with iResus which is distributed for free by the UK Resuscitation Council. It is fast to use, and it keeps itself updated with the latest information.

Sounds good, but does it really work? According to tests, yes. They recruited 31 doctors at the Royal United Hospital in Bath to take part in a trial. All the doctors had had advanced resuscitation/life-support training within the last four years. They were split into two groups, the test group being given iPhones with the app, and the other doctors forming a control group who didn't have phones. Roughly one-third of the doctors were already iPhone users and they were split equally between the test group and the control group.

Then both groups were put through a simulated cardiac arrest emergency and their performance was graded. Those with iResus found it significantly easier to bring their simulated patients back to life after their hearts stopped.

Sounds like this really is a useful app for doctors!

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/30/iphone_brings_dead_back_to_life/


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