Enhancing the Chain of Survival: The Role of Smartphone Applications in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

This review explores the role of smartphone applications in providing real-time guidance for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) practices and highlights their potential to improve CPR quality among laypersons. A narrative literature review was conducted on the effectiveness of mobile CPR applications for smartphones. Studies published between 2014 and 2024 were included to ensure that new technological advances were examined. Our findings revealed that guided CPR applications significantly improve most critical parameters for efficacious resuscitation. Application users demonstrated that they achieved performance comparable to or even better than CPR-certified individuals. However, these tools have limitations, mostly related to familiarity, which may result in a delay in activating the application and, therefore, in initiating CPR. While smartphone applications are promising tools for enhancing bystander CPR, their integration into emergency medical response requires careful consideration. To fully take advantage of these applications, they should be incorporated into public health campaigns and standard CPR training. This would be even more successful if the application's functionality were standardized across different regions. Our research indicates that a combination of education and technology will likely play a major role in CPR training in the future, improving the efficacy and accessibility of life-saving measures. Smartphone applications could greatly improve the chain of survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) events. The design and accessibility of these applications as well as the integration of these applications with current emergency response frameworks should be the main areas of future research.