Factors that motivate individuals to volunteer to be dispatched as first responders in the event of a medical emergency: A systematic review protocol

Abstract

Background: Voluntary First Response is an important component of prehospital care for medical emergencies, particularly cardiac arrest, in many countries. This intervention entails the mobilisation of volunteers, known as Community First Responders (CFRs), by the Emergency Medical Services to respond to medical emergencies in their locality. They include lay responders and/or professional responders (e.g. police officers, fire fighters, and general practitioners). A wide variety of factors are thought to motivate CFRs to join and remain engaged in Voluntary First Response schemes, such as the availability of learning opportunities, recognition, counselling, and leadership. The aim of this review is to develop an in-depth understanding of CFR motivation, including the factors that influence the initial decision to volunteer as a CFR and the factors that sustain involvement in Voluntary First Response over time. Any factors relevant to CFR de-motivation and turnover will also be examined. Methods: This is a protocol for a qualitative systematic review of the factors that influence the motivation of individuals to participate in Voluntary First Response. A systematic search will be carried out on seven electronic databases. Qualitative studies, mixed-methods studies, and any other studies producing data relating to the review question will be eligible for inclusion. Title and abstract screening, as well as full text screening, will be completed independently by two authors. A narrative synthesis, which is an established qualitative synthesis methodology, will be performed. The quality of each of the included studies will be critically appraised. Discussion: The findings of this review will be used to optimise the intervention of Voluntary First Response. Specifically, the results will inform the design and organisation of Voluntary First Response schemes, including their recruitment, training, and psychological support processes. This could benefit a range of stakeholders, including CFRs, paramedics, emergency physicians, patients, and the public.

Smartphone-based dispatch of Community First Responders to Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest - Statements from an International Consensus Conference

“…One possibility to nance CFR is to implement it into the existing emergency medical system (EMS). Currently, some CFR systems are part of the EMS, while others are complementary or totally separate from the EMS and sometimes they replace EMS (remote areas in Iceland) (9,17,49). This is often confusing for CFR as well as for the public(6).…”

“…Regular meetings of the CFR group may help to increase retention (9). CFR who have not been dispatched for a longer period may get demotivated (10).…”

“…This cannot be achieved by the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) alone; even if they arrive on scene within 5 minutes, immediate bystander CPR still leads to a two-to threefold increase in survival (2,3). To bridge the time until EMS arrival, various systems worldwide introduced deployment of Community First Responders (CFR) to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). This led to an increased rate of CPR performed before arrival of the EMS (14,15).…”

Smartphone-based dispatch of Community First Responders to Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest - Statements from an International Consensus Conference

“…It remains unclear whether a system with many unquali ed responders delivers better outcomes than a system with a few highly quali ed CFR. Hence, in some countries, like UK, systems with a small number of medical professionals coexists with systems with a large number of medical laypersons (9). Lessons learned from the different systems worldwide might help us answer this question and randomised controlled trials are needed (17,12,43).…”

“…This cannot be achieved by the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) alone; even if they arrive on scene within 5 minutes, immediate bystander CPR still leads to a two-to threefold increase in survival (2,3). To bridge the time until EMS arrival, various systems worldwide introduced deployment of Community First Responders (CFR) to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). This led to an increased rate of CPR performed before arrival of the EMS (14,15).…”