Smartwatch must signal cardiac arrest and call 112

According to international research, about 60 percent of the victims who suffer a cardiac arrest outside the walls of a hospital are alone. It is also striking that women are more often alone when they are affected by a cardiac arrest than men. This may be because women are more likely to live alone than men, especially when they are a bit older. In those cases, there is no one nearby who can call the emergency services. How nice would it be if that problem could be solved with the help of a smartwatch?

That is exactly what TU/e ​​scientists are working on. The development of a smartwatch that is not only capable of signaling a cardiac arrest, but also immediately calls 112 itself.

Smartwatch with sensors and GPS

The smartwatches that developed will make use of various specific sensors, among other things. Think of sensors that register whether someone falls or sensors that can measure whether the heart is still beating in the smallest blood vessels in the skin. In addition, they will also be equipped with GPS technology. As a result, emergency services can be immediately provided with the exact location of the patient. That way they can be on site as quickly as possible. In addition, the location data is also forwarded to HartslagNu’s resuscitation call system, so that civilian emergency workers are also alerted. Incidentally, the researchers expect that the smartwatch will also save time in cardiac arrests where witnesses are present.

There are already several smart watches on the market that monitor the wearer’s heart rhythm and give a warning when abnormal values ​​are detected. More and more smartwatches also have a built-in EKG function and there are even models that can cause heart problems to predict. Functions that may be a valuable addition to monitoring, but there is still a world of difference between indicative measurements and the actual signaling of a cardiac arrest with bordering on 100 percent certainty. And that is exactly the difference for which the TU/e ​​researchers, together with Amsterdam UMC, Tilburg University, Philips, the Catharina hospital and Stan, want to develop a solution.

The initiative to get this research off the ground was taken by the Heart Foundation. She brought the different parties together. The goal is to find an innovative solution to increase the chance of survival in a witnessless cardiac arrest.