OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether real-time ventilation feedback would improve provider adherence to ventilation guidelines.

DESIGN: Non-blinded randomised controlled simulation trial.

SETTING: One Emergency Medical Service trust in Copenhagen.

PARTICIPANTS: 32 ambulance crews consisting of 64 on-duty basic or advanced life support paramedics from Copenhagen Emergency Medical Service.

INTERVENTION: Participant exposure to real-time ventilation feedback during simulated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was ventilation quality, defined as ventilation guideline-adherence to ventilation rate (8-10 bpm) and tidal volume (500-600 ml) delivered simultaneously.

RESULTS: The intervention group performed ventilations in adherence with ventilation guideline recommendations for 75.3% (Interquartile range (IQR) 66.2%-82.9%) of delivered ventilations, compared to 22.1% (IQR 0%-44.0%) provided by the control group. When controlling for participant covariates, adherence to ventilation guidelines was 44.7% higher in participants receiving ventilation feedback. Analysed separately, the intervention group performed a ventilation guideline-compliant rate in 97.4% (IQR 97.1%-100%) of delivered ventilations, versus 66.7% (IQR 40.9%-77.9%) for the control group. For tidal volume compliance, the intervention group reached 77.5% (IQR 64.9%-83.8%) of ventilations within target compared to 53.4% (IQR 8.4%-66.7%) delivered by the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: Real-time ventilation feedback increased guideline compliance for both ventilation rate and tidal volume (combined and as individual parameters) in a simulated OHCA setting. Real-time feedback has the potential to improve manual ventilation quality and may allow providers to avoid harmful hyperventilation.