Video-assisted First Aid by Young Children

Sudden cardiac arrest is a major public health concern and remains one of the leading causes of death in industrialized countries. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) dispatchers play a crucial role in recognizing cardiac arrest and guiding lay responders through telephone-assisted CPR (T-CPR), which has been shown to improve survival outcomes. With current technologies, real-time video communication via a bystander's smartphone has become feasible, enabling video-assisted CPR (V-CPR), which allows dispatchers to provide visual feedback and more tailored guidance.

Although several studies have investigated the effectiveness of V-CPR-mainly in terms of chest compression quality and time to first compression-these have primarily focused on adult participants and controlled settings. Research involving children as lay responders is limited, and video-assisted first aid has been scarcely evaluated in pediatric populations. Moreover, existing studies concentrate predominantly on CPR, while other essential first aid scenarios, such as the management of unconscious victims, remain underexplored.

To address these gaps, our study examined the effectiveness of video-assisted guidance during a simulated unconsciousness scenario performed by children, aiming to assess both the feasibility and potential benefits of extending video-assisted firs aid approaches beyond cardiac arrest.

Inclusion criteria

• healthy children aged 6 to 8 years (first grade of primary school)

Exclusion criteria

• children with known physical, cognitive, or communication impairments that could interfere with participation in simulated first aid tasks
• technical issue during data collection