Heart Attack Rescue

[Ribochet]

In relation to the recent discussion about CPR the attached website is an interactive link which may be of interest - it shows the use of an AED.

HeartRescueNow.com

What do you think - any good?

[Hightower]

That's an interesting Video, but I'm afraid I would have "Freaked" out at the sign of the dribble when I turned him over

BTW I've never seen AED's in the UK.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Hightower

BTW I've never seen AED's in the UK.

They're quite common here, I'm currently looking at one beside me (at work). I'm trained to use it, which puts a bit of extra pressure on me. I've "attended" a few heart attacks over the years. The score so far is three body bags, one stretcher case (made it) and one walking wounded (false alarm). Not sure the AED would have helped any of them - but shouting "CLEAR" would have enlivened the proceedings somewhat

[Dhf]

Excellent find and very interesting, I must admit I would have probably waited for the medic crew to use that AED, in which time it would have been probably to late, but after seeing that vid I wouldn't hesitate using one,

You may have saved a life by sharing that vid,
Good on you fella.

[Dhf]

Fair doo's willk you sound busy being a medic aswell, excellent work.
out of interest are those AED's things rechargable or are they one use only.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Dragonhawk ficht

Fair doo's willk you sound busy being a medic aswell, excellent work.
out of interest are those AED's things rechargable or are they one use only.

Not sure lugging a bodybag down three flights of stairs counts as Medic work. Medical Orderly, perhaps!

Our AED is powered, believe it or not, by a 9v Duracell. It charges a capacitor from that.

[jezza2011]

Cool Vid we haev AED's at work and not a clue how to use on untill now.

hopefully never will.

[willk]

Other that attempting to use the AED in wet conditions, it's really not possible to do any harm with one. You may of course, spectacularly fail to do any good. The "A" in AED stands for Automated, the user has no "call" to make. It will shock or not, depending on it's own readings. The training really tells you how to manage the scene, how to do CRP, how to manage the Cas, how to apply the pads etc. The AED decides the rest.

I think the bit that stuck with me most was that if another healthy person is touching the Cas during the "evaluation" period, the AED will read their heart rythm and determine that no shock should be given.

[tonto]

We carry them on board, as we could be miles from anywhere.

We are trained to use them, and do refresher courses every few years.

We also carry a CPR dummy to practice on as well, and the machine we have has training pads, which you use to train.
Ours can be connected to a computer, so that we can download the results and email to our medical advice people as well.

As Wilk says they are pretty much automatic, the only difference with ours is that they will advise a shock, and the operator then has to press a button to administer it.

We are normally told that if we suspect somone is in trouble put the pads on straight away, as we can use the machine as a monitor.

The machines are all pretty small, a little bigger than half a telephone directory. Knowing what they are I see them in a lot of shopping centers, I think I have seen them on the underground, on trains, and even many supermarkets as well.

Even without the training as long as you keep your head and can read the instructions, it would be better to get it on someone ASAP rather than wait for a "trained" person to turn up. The thing that stood out in my mind was that time is critical, the faster you get it going, the better the chances. And you will not do any harm putting it on.

Thankfully I have not had to use it in anger yet, but the more training and practice we do, the easier it is to respond to any situation.