American journal of public health
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We initiated a program of telephone CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) instruction provided by emergency dispatchers to increase the percentage of bystander-initiated CPR for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrests in King County, Washington were studied for 20 months before and after the telephone CPR program began. ⋯ We estimate that four lives may have been saved by the program. A review of hospital records revealed no excess morbidity in the group of patients receiving dispatcher-assisted CPR.