Other Titles
Journey to a HEARTSafe Community [Title Slide]
Abstract
The sudden loss of life is a traumatic event inflicting devastating and lasting impacts on families and communities. It has been estimated that more than 350,000 episodes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occur annually in the United States (Virani et al., 2021); however, being that there is no nationwide mandatory reporting system, this number may be a gross underrepresentation of reality. The majority of OHCA occur residential homes and in the community setting. Survival rates are heavily dependent upon provision of immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation with neurologic damage occurring within 5 minutes (Brooks et al., 2022).
Unfortunately, the national overall survival rate for OHCA to hospital discharge is 9.3%; however, survival rates can double or triple if an automatic external defibrillator (AED) is applied within 3 minutes of the arrest (CARES, 2023). Although the benefits CPR and early defibrillation are evident, rates of bystander CPR and AED training have been reported to be less than 3% annually (Anderson, et al., 2014). Implementation of CPR and AED educational programs have been identified by both the National Academy of Medicine and the American Heart Association (AHA) as key strategies for improving OHCA outcomes (Becker at al., 2015). In an effort to improve OHCA outcomes, various sudden cardiac arrest advocacy organizations have created community outreach programs aimed towards strengthening the OHCA chain of survival. The six steps in the OHCA chain of survival are: activation of emergency response, provision of early CPR, rapid defibrillation (AED), advanced resuscitation by EMS, post arrest care (in hospital) and recovery.
The journey to a HEARTSafe Community began in the fall of 2021, when a team of nursing faculty and students dedicated to improving OHCA outcomes, joined forces with the common goal of achieving the HEARTSafe Community designation from the Citizen CPR Foundation. The team implemented the American Heart Association’s CPR Anywhere® program with university staff, students & outside community members. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from university to collect participant demographic data & pre/posttest scores (n=319). The pre/posttest associated with the CPR Anywhere® program was used to assess participant knowledge and comfort before and upon course completion. Statistical analysis revealed there was a significant difference, t (318) = - 24.23, p < .001 between pre-test (M = 4.79; SD = 1.78) and post-test scores (M = 7.10; SD .909), indicating an improvement in CPR/AED knowledge and comfort after participating in the sessions. To gain an exponential effect, participants are provided CPR Anytime® kits to share training with family and friends. A QR code is inserted in the kit, and participants are asked to scan and update the project team on how many additional people they shared the training with. In addition, pop-up CPR/AED educational sessions were offered on campus and in the community. Continuous collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Village Board of Trustees, local volunteer fire department, university public safety, advocacy groups and the American Heart Association are integral components of this successful program.
Notes
References:
Anderson, M. L., Cox, M., Al-Khatib, S. M., Nichol, G., Thomas, K. L., Chan, P. S., ... Peterson, E. D. (2014). Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training Rates in the United States. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(2), 194–201.
Becker, L. B., Aufderheide, T. P., & Graham, R. (2015). Strategies to improve survival from cardiac arrest: a report from the Institute of Medicine. Jama, 314(3), 223-224.
Brooks, S. C., Clegg, G. R., Bray, J., Deakin, C. D., Perkins, G. D., Ringh, M., ... & International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. (2022). Optimizing outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with innovative approaches to public-access defibrillation: A scientific statement from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Circulation, 145(13), e776-e801. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001013
Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival. (2023). Retrieved from https://mycares.net/sitepages/uploads/2023/2022_flipbook/index.html?page=50
Virani, S. S., Alonso, A., Aparicio, H. J., Benjamin, E. J., Bittencourt, M. S., Callaway, C. W., ... & Tsao, C. W. (2021). Heart disease and stroke statistics-2021 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 143(8), CIR0000000000000950.
Sigma Membership
Epsilon Kappa
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Heart Arrest, Cardiac Arrest, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Prehospital Care, Nursing Faculty, Nursing Students, Community Health Services -- Education
Recommended Citation
McCormack, Mary; Zarcone, Carole; Hoepper, Kendra; and Veron, Dorothy, "Journey to a Heart Safe Community" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 66.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/66
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-20
Journey to a Heart Safe Community
Washington, DC, USA
The sudden loss of life is a traumatic event inflicting devastating and lasting impacts on families and communities. It has been estimated that more than 350,000 episodes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occur annually in the United States (Virani et al., 2021); however, being that there is no nationwide mandatory reporting system, this number may be a gross underrepresentation of reality. The majority of OHCA occur residential homes and in the community setting. Survival rates are heavily dependent upon provision of immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation with neurologic damage occurring within 5 minutes (Brooks et al., 2022).
Unfortunately, the national overall survival rate for OHCA to hospital discharge is 9.3%; however, survival rates can double or triple if an automatic external defibrillator (AED) is applied within 3 minutes of the arrest (CARES, 2023). Although the benefits CPR and early defibrillation are evident, rates of bystander CPR and AED training have been reported to be less than 3% annually (Anderson, et al., 2014). Implementation of CPR and AED educational programs have been identified by both the National Academy of Medicine and the American Heart Association (AHA) as key strategies for improving OHCA outcomes (Becker at al., 2015). In an effort to improve OHCA outcomes, various sudden cardiac arrest advocacy organizations have created community outreach programs aimed towards strengthening the OHCA chain of survival. The six steps in the OHCA chain of survival are: activation of emergency response, provision of early CPR, rapid defibrillation (AED), advanced resuscitation by EMS, post arrest care (in hospital) and recovery.
The journey to a HEARTSafe Community began in the fall of 2021, when a team of nursing faculty and students dedicated to improving OHCA outcomes, joined forces with the common goal of achieving the HEARTSafe Community designation from the Citizen CPR Foundation. The team implemented the American Heart Association’s CPR Anywhere® program with university staff, students & outside community members. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from university to collect participant demographic data & pre/posttest scores (n=319). The pre/posttest associated with the CPR Anywhere® program was used to assess participant knowledge and comfort before and upon course completion. Statistical analysis revealed there was a significant difference, t (318) = - 24.23, p < .001 between pre-test (M = 4.79; SD = 1.78) and post-test scores (M = 7.10; SD .909), indicating an improvement in CPR/AED knowledge and comfort after participating in the sessions. To gain an exponential effect, participants are provided CPR Anytime® kits to share training with family and friends. A QR code is inserted in the kit, and participants are asked to scan and update the project team on how many additional people they shared the training with. In addition, pop-up CPR/AED educational sessions were offered on campus and in the community. Continuous collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Village Board of Trustees, local volunteer fire department, university public safety, advocacy groups and the American Heart Association are integral components of this successful program.
Description
This presentation will inspire and guide nursing faculty and students on innovative ways colleges/universities can spearhead campus-wide outreach programs geared towards strengthening the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest chain of survival. An emphasis will be placed on the importance of stakeholder buy in and aligning with national advocacy organizations.