In a nationwide cohort of OHCA patients with shockable rhythms, dispatcher-assisted CPR was strongly associated with improved early resuscitation success and long-term survival, supporting DA-CPR as a critical system-level intervention.
Patients who received dispatcher-assisted CPR had dramatically higher rates of return of spontaneous circulation compared to those without DA-CPR.
Hospital admission with sustained circulation was substantially higher in the DA-CPR group than in the non-DA-CPR group.
Thirty-day survival was markedly higher in patients who received dispatcher-assisted CPR compared to those who did not.
One-year survival was substantially higher among patients who received dispatcher-assisted CPR.
DA-CPR occurrence changed over the study period, declining in 2022 followed by a partial recovery in 2023.
Nearly half of all VF/VT OHCA cases in Hungary across the study years received dispatcher-assisted CPR.
This research suggests that when emergency dispatchers guide bystanders through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) over the phone before an ambulance arrives — a practice called dispatcher-assisted CPR or DA-CPR — cardiac arrest patients are far more likely to survive. The study looked at nearly 3,700 cardiac arrest patients in Hungary across three years (2019, 2022, and 2023) who had a type of cardiac arrest that is potentially treatable with shock (called a shockable rhythm). Patients who received DA-CPR were about seven to eight times more likely to have their heartbeat restored, be admitted to hospital alive, and survive at 30 days and one year compared to those who did not receive DA-CPR before the ambulance arrived. The numbers are striking: 92% of DA-CPR patients had their pulse restored, versus only 12% of non-DA-CPR patients. At one year, 46% of DA-CPR patients were still alive, compared to just 6% of those without it. About half of all patients in the study received DA-CPR. The researchers also noted that DA-CPR rates dropped in 2022 before partially recovering in 2023, suggesting that consistent implementation requires active monitoring and standardized protocols. This research suggests that training dispatchers to instruct callers in CPR techniques and ensuring those instructions are given consistently could be one of the most impactful things an emergency medical system can do to save lives during cardiac arrest. The findings highlight that the chain of survival starts with the very first phone call to emergency services, and that the minutes before an ambulance arrives are critical. Public health and emergency service planners may wish to consider investing in dispatcher training, centralized protocols, and ongoing performance tracking as system-level priorities.
Molnár F, Gőbl G, Szabó A, Csomós &, Hőnyi P, Pápai G, et al.. (2026). From call to home: The role of dispatcher-assisted CPR in patient survival.. Physiology international. https://doi.org/10.1556/2060.2026.00960