The Call-Push-Shock social media campaign, designed to motivate bystander action in cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), is becoming a national movement. Results of the initiative, co-sponsored by Parent Heart Watch and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, were presented at the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit in Seattle last week.[1]
Campaign leadership, Jennifer Chap (StrataVerve), Martha Lopez-Anderson (Parent Heart Watch), and Mary Newman (Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation), presented information about the growing movement during the National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative Town Hall Meeting and multiple sessions during the conference.
The campaign was launched in June 2018. By October 2018, there were 20 co-partners. By early December 2019, there were 35 co-partners. By the end of the Summit, another 15 organizations had expressed interest in joining the campaign. “We are thrilled that so many stakeholders are joining the Call-Push-Shock movement,” said Newman. “We believe that if we speak in one voice across all of our platforms, we can dramatically improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest.”
The Call-Push-Shock campaign was developed in response to an appeal from the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) urging collaboration among stakeholders to help improve OHCA survival.[2] The purpose of the campaign is to motivate bystanders to call 911, give CPR, and use AEDs (automated external defibrillators) to help save lives.
The incidence of OHCA is high (>350,000) and the survival rate has remained stagnant for decades (about 1 in 10). Fewer than half of victims (39%) receive bystander CPR or treatment with an AED (6%) before EMS arrival.[3] Yet, with immediate CPR and AED use by bystanders, survival rates are as high as 50%.[4]
One of the ways to help improve survival, according to the IOM, is for organizations to speak in one voice with consistent messaging aimed at increasing rates of bystander intervention with CPR and use of AEDs.
The Call-Push-Shock campaign is based on research conducted for the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation by StrataVerve, a global consumer research firm. Two studies conducted by StrataVerve, with thousands of respondents across the U.S., looked at public awareness of sudden cardiac arrest[5] and effective messaging strategies.[6] The two messages that resonated with the lay public and would motivate action were “CPR/AED use can double or triple the chance of survival,” and “SCA can happen to a loved one.”
Campaign assets include a landing page, Call-Push-Shock.org, and a user-friendly toolkit that features a simple explanation of SCA tested among laypersons, an infographic, images created for Facebook and Twitter, videos of “man-in-the street” interviews, and a social media calendar with suggested posts. Campaign assets are now available both in English and Spanish.
Co-sponsors Parent Heart Watch and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation launched the campaign during CPR/AED Awareness Week in June 2018 and invited others to join the campaign during National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month in October 2018. Campaign assets were co-branded with the logos of participants. The collaborative campaign was repeated in June 2019 and October 2019. In October 2018, there were 20 co-partners; by December 2019, there were 35 co-partners, including CARES, Citizen CPR Foundation, Heart Rhythm Society, and Heart Rescue.
Campaign results from CPR/AED Awareness Week June 1-7 (2018 + 2019) include:
- 1.2M press release headline impressions (1 release/year) (PR Web)
- 771K hashtag (#callpushshock) impressions (Keyhole.co)
- 99K Facebook reach (2 co-sponsors only) (Facebook analytics)
- 38K Twitter impressions (2 co-sponsors only) (Twitter analytics).
Campaign results from National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month October 1-31 (2018 + 2019) include:
- 2.8M hashtag (#callpushshock) impressions (Keyhole.co)
- 190K Facebook reach (2 co-sponsors only) (Facebook analytics)
- 111K Twitter impressions (2 co-sponsors only) (Twitter analytics).
The authors conclude that a social media campaign, leveraging consumer-tested messaging used by multiple organizations in a unified, consistent movement can be effective in improving targeted reach and educational outcomes. They further note that a sustained effort is needed to determine campaign impact in improving public understanding of OHCA and bystander action over time.
“We welcome other organizations to join the Call-Push-Shock movement,” said Martha Lopez-Anderson, Executive Director of Parent Heart Watch. “By using consistent messaging, we will save more lives.”
To join the movement, visit https://callpushshock.org/.
[1] Organizations unite in “Call-Push-Shock” movement to impact public understanding that drives action. Circulation. 2019;140:A472
[2] IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2015. Strategies to improve cardiac arrest survival: A time to act. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
[3] Heart and Stroke Statistics—2019 Update: A Report from the American Heart Association, Circulation. 2019;139:e56-e528.
[4] The effects of public access defibrillation on survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A systematic review of observational studies. Circulation 2017. DOI:10.1161/CirculationAHA/117.029067.
[5] Baseline consumer study of public awareness about sudden cardiac arrest. Circulation. 2016;134:A20370
[6] Sudden cardiac arrest messaging study: The public’s motivation to learn CPR/AED skills and to act in an emergency increases with a clear understanding of SCA and the impact these skills have on increasing survival. Circulation. 2018;138:A225