AED

ractice covering four states, and so have a long-term relationship with McK esson. Meaning I can get all the advice I want from their sales department, and that we have access to all brands.

ce such a device or have any experience-based suggestions? A little bit of real-world experience might be useful.

AEDs by their nature are designed to be easy to use. As an EMT, I have use d these many times. Just to let you know... In real life, these RARELY sh ock anyone. Unlike TV, AEDs DO NOT shock a flatline (asystole). An AED wi ll only shock someone if Ventricular Fibrulation (V-fib).

As far as brands go, I have used LIFEPACK and Philips either of which are g ood manufacturers and will work as designed.

The Philips has a key to use for pediatric patients where many others use d ifferent pad sets. The choice is up to you. Pick one that seems the easie st to use for you. All AEDs that I have seen over the years actually walk you through the process and provide clear diagrams for pad placement.

If you ever need to use one, listen to the prompts and follow them to the l etter. Before you push the "deliver" or "shock" button (label will be diff erent for each machine), be sure that NO-ONE is touching the patient. If t hey are they WILL get shocked and will likely become another patient.

Dan

Side note: Just so that people understand, contrary to popular belief, an AED does NOT "start" the heart. In reality it stops the heart for a secon d. Think of this as trying to get the attention of an out of control teena ger... sometimes a good smack on the back of the head is required to get t heir attention. This is essentially what the AED does. It shocks the hear t which stops for a beat before resetting and (hopefully) working normally.

I hope this helps.

It does. very much! Thank you for sharing your experience!

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

I probably should add:

The presence of an AED does not preclude good CPR being done. Everyone should know CPR. At the very least, chest compressions are beneficial even without any attempt to assist breathing. Only stop CPR at 2 times:

2) During the shock (when told to shock)

Keep CPR going until assistance arrives. Be ready to hand it off to another person as it very tiring. You should not try to perform CPR for more than 5-10 minutes without relief as your ability to deliver quality compressions will fail after that time.

Dan (and yes, I have done CPR on real people many times both with ultimate success and without sadly)

My intention is to purchase a package through the Red Cross that includes CPR training, AED training and the unit itself. As always, thank you for giving me good information and means to avoid wasted motion.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

A good combination - get yourself and your people trained on the actual model you'll be buying, if at all possible.

One issue our instructor pointed out: some AED models will automatically activate when you open them. You don't necessarily want that, if it happens prematurely - it might delay your ability to (re)start the diagnostic cycle when you actually get the pads onto the patient.

Our instructor recommended that when we send somebody to the AED cabinet, we say "Get the AED. Don't open it, don't try to turn it on. Just bring it back here immediately."

May not be relevant to all AED models, of course.

s CPR training, AED training and the unit itself.

That is news to me. Since there is no way for the machine to know when/if the pads are in place, they usually prompt the user to hit the analyze butt on. Unless CPR is halted during this analysis period, the machine will not react properly. The machine "looks" at the trace you usually see on TV in hospital scenes. On a standard EKG machine, this is known as lead 2. Thi s lead is used to see the rate and rhythm of the heart beat. With a typical EKG monitor, there are 5 wires connected to the body which provide this tr ace as well as others. If further detailed analysis is needed, additional l eads are attached (5 more totaling 10) which provide what is called a 12-le ad tracing. This allows for a varied view of the electrical activity of th e heart that can be read to determine whether or not there are problems (su ch as a heart attack).

The bottom line here is that ALL AEDs work the same way and have slight var iations. Follow the audio prompts. Get familiar with the ones that are lo cal to you if you can. But, rest assured, they will be similar enough that any of them can be used with confidence.

Dan

Our AEDs notify the fire department when you open the cabinet to take it out or even look at it.

I've never seen ours used but we put them in every building on the campus.

Note: That function is not the AED but the cabinet in which it is installed. Some make a notification, others just blare a siren of some sort.

Dan