Indianapolis Indiana CPR Health and Safety Training

Everything you ever wanted to know about the AED

Having them available for public use

Public access defibrillation (PAD) programs were approved by the American Heart Association in 1995. It was based on the concept that having an AED available to the public for use on a victim suffering sudden cardiac death (SCD), would greatly increase the chances of survival for the victim. With very little or even no training, a person could effectively use an AED long before the arrival of a Paramedic or an EMT. This decrease in the time before an electrical shock is delivered to a victim of SCD would vastly change all known statistics of survival rates from SCD.

In an article published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004, Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) studies showed that the use of an AED greatly improved the survival of victims of SCD. the results were based on a two year study of the outcome of victims of SCD who were given CPR alone verses victims that were treated with an AED. In programs with bystanders trained to call 9-1-1 and provide CPR without an AED, 15 out of 107 cardiac arrest victims survived to hospital discharge.   In programs with lay rescuers trained and equipped to call 9-1-1 and deliver CPR plus use an AED, 30 of 128 cardiac arrest victims survived to hospital discharge. While these numbers may still seem to show a very low survival rate of SCD, they do prove that the chances of survival of SCD with an AED far surpasses those of just CPR alone.

PAD programs are based on the premise that having an AED in locations of highly concentrated populations of people can increase the survival rate of SCD. These programs are geared toward providing minimal training to lay rescuers that may have to intervene when a victim falls of SCD. This training may only consist of a basic First Aid course with AED, but it does give with this training the knowledge and confidence to use an AED when the need arises.

All of these figures and facts are pointless if facilities do not take advantage of the programs available. It is a proven fact that a SCD will eventually happen in an area where people concentrate regularly, but the victims survival is almost solely dependant on whether or not the facility has taken advantage of placing an AED within reasonable distance of the victim. remember, without an AED, the victim has a less than 5% chance of surviving, and that is only if a rescuer provide good effective CPR quickly.