Task-shift Model in Pre-hospital Care and Standardized Nationwide Data Collection in Japan: Improved Outcomes for Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a growing worldwide public health concern. Previously, Japan experienced poorer outcomes among OHCA patients than in other high-income countries. In the early 1990s, through policy changes, the Japanese government introduced a task-shift model in pre-hospital care. Some medical practices previously provided by physicians exclusively were delegated to non-physicians, including laypeople. Additionally, we initiated a nationwide data collection system for evaluation. We started a nationwide registry of OHCA patients, a paramedic system to provide advanced life-support care, and basic life-support training for laypeople. In the 2000s, the procedures paramedics could provide were expanded, laypeople were allowed to use automated external defibrillators, and the Utstein style was introduced to the national registry. Consequently, pre-hospital advanced care and bystander first-aid increased, registry-based research contributed to evidence-based practices, and―most importantly―outcomes of OHCA patients considerably improved. These Japanese experiences demonstrate that streamlining pre-hospital care, including bystander interventions and standardized data collection, can improve OHCA patient outcomes. Despite this progress, however, there still exist many issues to be addressed in response to the changing and increasing care demands within Japan’s aging population.