DALLAS, July 8, 2021 – More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the U.S. annually. About 90% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest die. Without immediate recognition and CPR delivery, the chance of survival decreases significantly  as each minute without lifesaving interventions passes. One of the most critical actions a community’s emergency communication center (ECC) can take to save more lives is leveraging evidence-based telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR) protocols to guide callers on how to perform CPR.

RQI Partners, a partnership between and service provider for the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical, and FirstWatch, a technology company that uses improvement science to support public safety and healthcare organizations, launched today RQI^®-T Analytics powered by FirstWatch. This new collaboration empowers emergency communication centers and 9-1-1 telecommunicators to optimize data to measure and improve T-CPR performance.

RQI-T Analytics powered by FirstWatch brings FirstWatch’s renowned expertise in turning data into meaningful information to ECCs using RQI-T, or RQI Telecommunicator, a blended educational and resuscitation quality improvement program that provides continuous, simulation-based, mastery learning, practice and analytics to telecommunicators for delivery of high-quality telephone CPR to bystanders. The program is co-developed by the American Heart Association, the leading voluntary organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives, Laerdal Medical, the world leader in medical simulation and resuscitation training, and the Resuscitation Academy Foundation.

“The experts at FirstWatch have a proven track record of helping emergency communication centers understand where they’re excelling and where they have room for improvement,” said Julie Buckingham, RQI-T program manager at RQI Partners. “This collaboration is impactful for RQI-T and the 9-1-1 community, but the real winners are the thousands of people whose lives will be saved if they receive early, effective CPR.”

RQI-T Analytics powered by FirstWatch will equip ECC leaders and 9-1-1 telecommunicators with real-time data analysis and feedback, using the interactive, easy-to-understand dashboards for which       fFirstWatch is known. With RQI-T Analytics, these first firstresponderswillhave insight into goal achievement, a change in performance and aroadmap to the height of success — savingmorelives.

“Resuscitation Quality Improvement^® is revolutionizing how we think about education and quality improvement in public safety, especially in the emergency communication center,” said Todd Stout, founder and president of FirstWatch. “The entire FirstWatch team is excited to help RQI Partners provide the          feedback 9-1-1 telecommunicators need to make a real difference in their communities.”

RQI-T uses evidence-based methods to deliver concise, quarterly telecommunicator CPR simulation sessions that provide telecommunicators with the skills, competence and confidence to rapidly identify a cardiac arrest and initiate CPR, meeting the Association’s T-CPR standards. The combination of RQI-T’s innovative approach to resuscitation education and FirstWatch’s decades of experience helping public safety agencies improve performance will maximize telecommunicators’ lifesaving potential, giving cardiac arrest victims the best chance of survival.

To learn more about the RQI-T program, visit rqipartners.com/rqit. For additional information on RQI-T Analytics powered by FirstWatch, visit https://firstwatch.net/partnersforlife/.