Assessment of a quality improvement programme to improve telephone dispatchers' accuracy in identifying out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Introduction: Early recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) by the medical dispatcher is a prerequisite for an effective chain of survival, leading to rapid dispatch of emergency medical services.

Aim: To analyse and compare the accuracy of the Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre in identifying OHCA before and after an educational intervention.

Methods: A quality-assessment study collecting data from prehospital medical voice logs in Southern Denmark during two periods.