In recent years, smartphone-based first responder alerting systems have been established with great success and promising results in some European countries. Since 2021, international guidelines have recommended the establishment of such systems. To date, however, they have not yet been implemented nationwide in most countries.
The 2021 international resuscitation guidelines recommend, that ‘First responders (...) who are near a suspected Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) should be notified by the dispatch centre Through an alerting system implemented with a smartphone app or a text message.’
It is also recommended to ‘implement such technologies in order to (...) reduce the time to first chest compressions and defibrillation.’
Implementing these guidelines requires a comprehensive network of publicly available defibrillators (AEDs) and a modern alerting algorithm that includes intelligent task distribution. First responders who can reach the emergency location first should be routed directly there. Another first responder should be directed to the nearest AED so that defibrillation can be performed before the emergency services arrive. Last but not least the alerting algorithm does not send first responders to the emergency location, who cannot reach the scene prior to the ambulance.
Our research findings form the basis for the ongoing development of the smartphone-based first responder system. Together with researchers from Germany and abroad, our scientific working group has already published numerous studies. Many questions are still unanswered. Please check back regularly, as we regularly present our latest work on this page.
In our interdisciplinary scientific working group with experts from the field of resuscitation research, we are working on many scientific questions related to smartphone alerting systems.
We are involved in the Working Group `Smartphone saves lives´of the German Resuscitation Council (GRC), in the section `Resuscitation and Post-Resuscitation Treatment´ of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) and in the German Society for Internal Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN).
We also have a strong network of researchers in Germany and abroad. The (further) development of first responder alert systems, AED networks and modern alerting algorithms leads to continuous improvement of first responder availability and response times. New features and optimisations of the software developments are consistently evaluated in scientific projects. The results of our studies are incorporated into further development.
The study examines the influence of the Region of Lifesavers community first responder system on the survival rate after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. In the participating regions (11 emergency medical service areas in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hessen, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony), the proportion of patients discharged alive from hospital is evaluated before and after the system is established during an 8-month observation phase. The study was initiated by the Region of Lifesavers association and is supported by the Centre for Emergency and Rescue Medicine at the University Medical Centre Freiburg.
In the project ‘Chain of Survival 5G’ technologies such as augmented reality, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and mobile robotics are being tested in rescue services and clinics in the Aalen region using 5G network technology.
From 2022 to 2024, the project team developed ways to make emergency rescue faster, more professional and easier. The key components are the use of the 5G mobile communications standard for stable, fast and high-capacity data transmission, and, among other things, the use of AED drones in a first responder alerting system.
The narrow streets of Freiburg's historic town are often bustling with activity. To ensure that large events can take place safely and without disruption, safety aspects must be taken into account during the event planning stage.
Region of Lifesavers association supports the FreiburgRESIST project with its expertise in app-based first responder alerting systems and by testing the situation query system with users of the existing app. The aim is to obtain additional information during an event or situation much more quickly, reliably and continuously.
Since the winter semester 2023/24, there has been an ongoing collaboration between the Faculty of Economics, Institute for Operations Research (IOR), Discrete Optimisation and Logistics (Prof. Dr. Stefan Nickel) and the Region of Lifesavers association to supervise student research projects in the Master's programme.
The research group supports doctoral students who are enthusiastic about smartphone-based first responder systems. In addition to a high degree of intrinsic motivation, this requires integration into our interdisciplinary team, patience and time.
Our doctoral students:
Dr. Julian Ganter
Head of research group
