Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Might find a public-access automated external defibrillator (AED)

Of all the places you might find a public-access automated external defibrillator (AED), perhaps nowhere is it more critical than at a gym. A new study shows that having an AED available at fitness centers makes a significant impact on survival rates.
According to an article from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, a study published in the European Heart Journal that looked at data collected over an 18-year period in 252 sports centers in Italy showed that:
“Onsite AED use significantly reduced the time to first shock from 7.3 to 3.3 minutes...Neurologically intact survival was 93% for patients treated with an onsite AED compared to 9% without an AED.”
This reduction in response time is crucial for patient survival in a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) incident. Successful defibrillation is highly dependent on how quickly defibrillation occurs. For each minute in cardiac arrest, the chance of survival goes down by about 10%. After as few as 10 minutes, survival is unlikely.
For those unfamiliar with this lifesaving resource, an AED is a small, portable, com­puterized device that is relatively easy for anyone to operate. It automatically analyzes the heart rhythm, determines if a shock is needed and charges itself to be ready to defibrillate.
Or perhaps you’ve seen these devices in a community fitness center, at a hotel or in a restaurant, and have nervously wondered whether it’s really safe for a bystander to use one in an emergency. It is! AEDs cannot accidentally shock someone, it doesn’t take a medical degree to operate one and that moment of shocking the patient isn’t as frightening as the high-voltage drama you see on television shows. For more information, check out our blog post, Common Misconceptions About AEDs.

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