Using a mobile application to improve recording during cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a mixed-methods study

Background: Accurate documentation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is essential. However, traditional methods, particularly handwriting, often introduce errors and increase the workload of the medical staff. This study aimed to describe the process of developing a tablet application for documenting CPR and to evaluate its accuracy in comparison with a paper-based method. Methods: We organized a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, developers, and designers. We used a participative human-centered design (HCD) approach that consisted of discovering, defining, developing and delivering solutions. We conducted a simulation study to compare the accuracy of the CPR documentation application with that of the handwriting method, focusing on documentation completeness and temporal fidelity. We evaluated the usability of the application using a System Usability Scale (SUS) and semi-structured interviews. Results: We developed the “CPReCoder” in accordance with the HCD process. The study application consists of two screens: a CPR recording screen and a reporting screen. The CPR recording screen is divided into three zones: zone 1 (patient and prehospital area), zone 2 (CPR code button area) and zone 3 (time information and log area). In the simulation study, the documentation completeness of the “CPReCoder” was significantly higher than that of the handwritten record (96.8% vs. 88.1%, p < 0.001). Both approaches exhibit comparable temporal fidelity. The SUS score of the application was 87.9 points, indicating excellent usability. According to the responses in the interviews, the main benefit of CPReCoder was its ability to reduce workload. Conclusions: We described the process of creating a CPR recording application. Use of the application resulted in a more complete documentation than the handwriting method, and its usability was excellent.