Authors:
Karin Harbusch
and
Janine Paschke
Affiliation:
University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Keyword(s):
First aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, CPR, Automatic External Defibrillator, AED, Bystander Effect, Smartphone App, Usability Study, Induced Emotion, Software-ergonomics, Human-computer Interaction.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Ergonomics
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Interface Design
Abstract:
Several smartphone applications are available to support the delivery of medical first aid, in particular car-diopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), by untrained people. These apps support passers-by witnessing an emer-gency situation, or enable brushing up basic knowledge of first aid. Moreover, they inform about publicly available automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and allow users to add the location of new devices. In this paper, we describe features of various first aid apps currently on the market. In order to find out whether or not these apps can really be helpful in emergency situations, we conducted a usability study with 74 par-ticipants who used the “Defi Now!” app. In order to simulate “realistic” conditions where the user is agitat-ed—as is the case when rescuing a person suffering from cardiac arrest—we induced fear by a psychologi-cally recommended method. Based on data from a questionnaire and video recordings, we discuss strong and weak points of “Defi Now!”. The ap
p was judged to be very helpful for medically untrained people. Nonetheless, our observations suggest several improvements to the user interface.
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