PulsePoint is a 911-connected mobile app that allows users to view and receive live alerts of calls being responded to by fire departments and emergency medical services. The app aims to have bystanders trained in CPR help cardiac arrest victims before emergency crews arrive, which can increase their chance of survival.[3][4] The app interfaces with the local government public safety answering point, and notifies nearby users of incidents in public spaces.[5] In February 2017, PulsePoint introduced a professional version called Verified Responder that also alerts in residential settings.[6] Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, PulsePoint is run by a public 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation of the same name.[7] As of November 2024, the foundation reported that connected agencies had requested the assistance of 1,013,000 nearby responders for 294,000 cardiac arrest events.[8]
In addition to Android and iOS, PulsePoint offers a web client at web.pulsepoint.org that allows users to view the same data that appears in PulsePoint Respond with a browser. PulsePoint uses a standardized set of incident types normalized across Public safety answering points (PSAP) and Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system vendors.[9] The foundation also underwrites an automated external defibrillator (AED) app and registry to provide location information to PulsePoint responders and dispatchers.[10]
In September 2018, the PulsePoint Respond app was approved by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and added to the App Catalog.[11] PulsePoint Respond is a FirstNet Certified app.[12]
History
Richard Price, president of the PulsePoint Foundation, said that the idea for the application came to him in 2010 while he was serving as the fire chief in the San Ramon Valley,[13] and witnessed a firetruck responding to a cardiac arrest while he was off-duty. Price was certified to perform CPR and had a defibrillator, which could have been useful if he had heard about the incident.[14] The American Heart Association estimates that 383,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States.[15]
In 2012 and 2013, PulsePoint was nominated for the Webby Award.Best Use of GPS or Location Technology.[16][17] In 2014, the application was once again nominated, this time in the category of City & Urban Innovation.[18]
AED Registry
Along with the intention of getting CPR started faster and more often, a key objective of the PulsePoint Respond app is to inform those near a cardiac arrest event of the location of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) in the immediate vicinity of the victim.[19] To accomplish this, the PulsePoint Foundation maintains an on‑demand (cloud-based) registry of AED locations and encourages anyone to contribute device locations.[20] This crowdsourced AED location information is subsequently reviewed by local public safety agencies with support from the foundation.[21] Approved AEDs are then shown to responders and dispatchers during cardiac emergencies via the PulsePoint AED Registry API.[22] All aspects of the registry are provided free of charge.[23]
On April 12, 2017, the PulsePoint Foundation announced a partnership with Priority Dispatch Corporation to allow dispatchers to inform callers of the location of nearby AEDs[24] when the Medical Priority Dispatch System deemed them necessary.[25] The PulsePoint AED registry is FirstNet Certified for use in emergency communications centers in the United States.[26]
In June 2019 PulsePoint extended the registry to include other collocated resources including naloxone (e.g., Narcan®) and epinephrine (e.g., EpiPen®), along with bleeding control kits.[27]
Additional concerns that have been raised are that the app can cause too many bystanders to congregate at the scene of an emergency and that those responding via the app may not be trained in CPR or AED.[29]
Along with being able to view a list of calls in real time, users also have the option to listen in to radio traffic.[31] During a CPR-needed response, this functionality allows citizen and off-duty rescuers to hear the dispatcher update emergency responders regarding patient location, scene conditions, etc.[27] To facilitate the live feed, PulsePoint uses Broadcastify.[31]
On December 11, 2018, PulsePoint released v4.1 for iOS[32] that included the ability to override a device's Do Not Disturb setting and play an alert sound even when the device is muted for “CPR Needed” alerts.[33] This required a special entitlement from Apple.[34]
The application has an interface with Flickr that allows agencies to share photos through the app.[31]
As of January 2024, the dispatch centers in more than 4,950 communities were connected to PulsePoint with over 3,000,000 users.[8] Some of the most well-known agencies include:
Orange=Dispatched (?=Awaiting Acknowledge) Green=Enroute Red=On Scene (^=Available on Scene) Yellow=Transport Blue=Transport Arrived Gray=Cleared from Incident[113]
The codes themselves are defined by each agency, and are typically followed by a number to identify a particular instance of each asset type. A legend is sometimes provided on the agency information page, and following are some common examples:
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