AED - Automated External Defibrillators

Unfortunately, it is impossible to stop dramatic events from happening. These are parts of life, just as happy events are part of existence. You might have been in the situation to witness a sudden heart arrest, but did not how to react so you did the best you could and called the ambulance and it all ended very sadly leaving you with the remorse that there was nothing you could do.

With today's technology, it is possible to do something in critical situations while waiting for the ambulance to come. Even you could be using the automated external defibrillator (AED) and save lives. Modern technology has made it possible for people that are not familiar with the medical environment to use life saving equipment like the AED.

Today, it is highly important that people with no medical training are aware of some basic first aid procedures. Even more important is the availability of the defibrillators, so as you can have an AED to save a person's life. These AED must be available in every place where there is a high incidence of sudden cardiac arrest.

The sudden heart arrest has a very high rate of occurrence. Actually, there is a victim every minute all around the world. This is an alarming figure, considering the fact that most cases of heart arrest have tragic consequences: death or at least brain damage for life. Only up to 5% of cases survive after delayed professional intervention.

In the US there are over 250,000 cases of sudden heart arrest that cause death each year. This is a high number and is higher even than the incidence of death from cancer.

50% of the sudden heart arrest cases take place at work of public spaces. Waiting for an ambulance to come, decreases dramatically the chances of the patient's survival. An immediate intervention increases the survival chances of the patient from a low 5-6% (the percentage of survival after delayed professional intervention) to approximately 40%.

The resuscitation must be done in the first 5-10 minutes within the occurrence of the heart arrest; otherwise the chances of survival are very low. Most of the times, it takes more than 10 minutes for the authorized personnel to get to the patient.

Sudden heart arrest occurs when the heart stops its regular beating- called ventricular fibrillation in medical terms. The patient loses consciousness, faints and eventually dies if no measures are taken immediately. However, if first aid is offered within the first 10 minutes after the occurrence of the heart arrest, then the survival chances of the patient are relatively high. The first aid must consist of CPR and AED.

What are AED and CPR?

First of all, for you and any person with no medical training, these 6 initials must stand for first aid and saving important lives. AED stands for automated external defibrillator and it is a device the size of a laptop computer, employed to reinstate a normal heart rate following a sudden heart arrest. The AED is a portable, automatic device that is applied to the patient's chest in order to analyze the heart rate and establish if a shock is necessary to re-establish the normal heart beat of the patient. When administrating a shock to the patient, the heart stops completely and gets the chance of going back to its normal rate. If this state is achieved, then the heart has been defibrillated.

Every patient that has collapsed following a sudden heart arrest needs a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This procedure needs to be done until the defibrillation is indicated by the AED or until the AED is ready to perform, and is as important as the defibrillation itself, being of major help in the first critical seconds or minutes after the cardiac arrest. The CPR supplies temporary artificial breathing and circulation in the first seconds when there is no response from the patient. Nonetheless, defibrillation is the only method that helps re-establishing a normal heart rate.

Please go through our other resources to learn more about cardiac arrest, defibrillation and AED manufacturers and products.

Defibrillator pad placement