AED Use by Bystanders
People question whether automated external defibrillators (AEDs) really are beneficial in saving lives or just another gimmick to make people feel better because they were able to “do” something.
A recent review of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests showed an increase in survivors with the public availability of AEDs
There were 11 cities in the United States and Canada participating in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) and the findings were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2007 Scientific Sessions.
The results showed that bystander AED programs appear to improve survival from cardiac arrest greater than 2-fold over solely EMS-based defibrillation.
Another study called the Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) trial showed that training and equipping lay volunteers to use an AED in community settings doubled the number of survivors after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest compared with training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) alone. The survival rate went from 15% to 30% survival to hospital discharge (Hallstrom AP et al. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:637-646).
This current study included patients if they experienced a nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006.
A total of 10,663 patients were included; most were men, and the average age was about 60.
The bystanders who applied the AED were mostly either untrained lay bystanders or healthcare workers.
Of the arrests, about 50% occurred in private settings and 50% in public settings.
If the bystander had an AED and placed it on the patient, whether or not it ultimately delivered a shock, survival increased to 23%, and if an AED was placed and a shock given, the survival rate was 36%.
Interestingly, the survival rate was only 32% when the EMS personnel were called to the scene for a patient who was in distress but not yet in cardiac arrest, witnessed the arrest, and provided defibrillation. This survival rate was no better than the bystander doing it.
If these findings are extrapolated to the whole population of 330 million in the United States and Canada, they estimated that 522 lives would be saved each year, or 2 lives every day
Neurolgic outcomes have not been published from the data and therefore we cannot say what functional outcomes AED’s are providing but previous studies have suggested that of patients who survive to discharge from the hospital, 95% have a good or excellent neurological outcome.
A recent review of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests showed an increase in survivors with the public availability of AEDs
There were 11 cities in the United States and Canada participating in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) and the findings were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2007 Scientific Sessions.
The results showed that bystander AED programs appear to improve survival from cardiac arrest greater than 2-fold over solely EMS-based defibrillation.
Another study called the Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) trial showed that training and equipping lay volunteers to use an AED in community settings doubled the number of survivors after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest compared with training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) alone. The survival rate went from 15% to 30% survival to hospital discharge (Hallstrom AP et al. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:637-646).
This current study included patients if they experienced a nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006.
A total of 10,663 patients were included; most were men, and the average age was about 60.
The bystanders who applied the AED were mostly either untrained lay bystanders or healthcare workers.
Of the arrests, about 50% occurred in private settings and 50% in public settings.
If the bystander had an AED and placed it on the patient, whether or not it ultimately delivered a shock, survival increased to 23%, and if an AED was placed and a shock given, the survival rate was 36%.
Interestingly, the survival rate was only 32% when the EMS personnel were called to the scene for a patient who was in distress but not yet in cardiac arrest, witnessed the arrest, and provided defibrillation. This survival rate was no better than the bystander doing it.
If these findings are extrapolated to the whole population of 330 million in the United States and Canada, they estimated that 522 lives would be saved each year, or 2 lives every day
Neurolgic outcomes have not been published from the data and therefore we cannot say what functional outcomes AED’s are providing but previous studies have suggested that of patients who survive to discharge from the hospital, 95% have a good or excellent neurological outcome.
Labels: AED, heart attack, study
posted by Anonymous at 5:45 AM
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