Abstract
New smart devices that have the potential to support the health and well-being of their owners have become available. In particular, smart watches are able to identify a fall by the person who is wearing the watch and report it to pre-defined contacts and the local emergency control center. Falls in older people are common and only rarely caused by malignant cardiac arrhythmia. The case of an elderly male whose smart watch automatically reported his fall due to ventricular fibrillation to the local emergency control center is described. Through the intervention of the wearer’s device, the activated dispatcher called the patient’s wife, who found her husband lying unresponsive on the floor. Emergency medical services responded immediately and were able to successfully resuscitate the patient. A hospital discharge without any long-term complications was achieved.
Zusammenfassung
In den letzten Jahren wurden zunehmend Smart Devices eingeführt, die die Gesundheit und das Wohlergehen ihrer Besitzer unterstützen sollen. Insbesondere sind Smartwatches in der Lage, einen Sturz des Trägers zu erkennen und diesen an vordefinierte Kontakte sowie die örtliche Leitstelle zu melden. Ältere Menschen stürzen aus verschiedenen Gründen häufiger, es ist jedoch ein eher seltenes Ereignis, dass Stürze ursächlich durch eine maligne Herzrhythmusstörung bedingt sind. Diese Kasuistik berichtet von einem älteren Mann, der aufgrund von Kammerflimmern einen Sturz erlitt und dessen Smartwatch daraufhin automatisch die örtliche Leitstelle kontaktierte. Nach der Intervention des Geräts rief der Disponent die Ehefrau des Gestürzten umgehend zurück. Diese fand den Patienten nicht ansprechbar auf dem Boden liegend vor. Der umgehend alarmierte Rettungsdienst reanimierte ihn erfolgreich. Schlussendlich konnte er ohne Langzeitfolgen aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen werden.
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Acknowledgements
We emphasize the excellent dispatching by Dominik Baake, dispatch center District of Herford, Germany, in this case.
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S. Grautoff and M. Watol declare that they have no competing interests.
For this article no studies with human participants or animals were performed by any of the authors. All studies mentioned were in accordance with the ethical standards indicated in each case. For images or other information within the manuscript which identify patients, consent was obtained from them and/or their legal guardians.
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Grautoff, S., Watol, M. Life-saving fall detection by a smartwatch in a case of ventricular fibrillation. Herzschr Elektrophys (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00399-024-01026-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00399-024-01026-w