Award-Winning Prototype App Revolutionizes Cardiac Arrest Patient Care

King’s College London, a large public research university, and King’s College Hospital, a major teaching hospital and major trauma center, teamed up with Ensono to develop an innovative application aimed at transforming care for out-of-hospital cardiac patients. ​

The probability of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK is approximately 10%. In comparison, this rate is as high as 20% in other countries, such as Denmark. Dr Nilesh Pareek, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at King’s College Hospital and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicines & Sciences at King’s College London, is spearheading work in the UK to address this problem, aiming to revolutionize treatment for patients who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.

The result of Dr Pareek’s research program was the MIRACLE₂ algorithm, which gives a neurological risk score to assess the risk of brain damage following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. To take the algorithm further into clinical settings, it needed a platform for delivery, which presented a perfect opportunity for incorporation into an app.

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Over a three-day Microsoft Hackathon, the Ensono team worked with academics from King’s College London to turn this ground-breaking initiative into an effective prototype. The team designed an app that presented the predictive information from the MIRACLE₂ score and other algorithms in a clear format that clinicians could use to make informed decisions in difficult situations.

The new app aims to make the MIRACLE₂ algorithm accessible and useable for clinicians, representing the beginning of a move towards a more personalized approach to cardiac arrest patients. Its purpose is to assist healthcare professionals at every stage, from the paramedics providing initial treatment to the clinicians receiving patients at the hospital. Through this seamless, easy-to-use app, clinicians can access crucial information, enabling them to make life-saving decisions in a way that wouldn’t be possible before.

The app remains in development and is not currently available for clinical use.

• Healthcare professionals can use the app to perform a rapid patient assessment and personalize treatment to meet individual patient needs, with the aim of improving survivability.
• Since its development, two further tools have been added to the application, further bolstering the capacity for clinicians to diagnose and personalize treatment to match patients’ needs.
• Ensono, King’s College London and King’s College Hospital were awarded Most Promising Pilot for the prototype app at the UK Health Tech Awards 2023.