Automatic defibrillators: Do they save lives?
Automatic defibrillators: Do they save lives?
Of the 300,000 sudden cardiac arrest deaths in the United States each year, about a quarter occur outside the home. To improve treatment for people who collapse from a heart attack in public places, researchers with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association have launched a study investigating whether community volunteers can be trained to use automatic external defibrillators. These devices, which shock a stopped heart into beating, are used by trained emergency medical services personnel and airline flight attendants.
Survival rates increase by as much as 10% for each minute shaved off the length of time a person has to wait to receive defibrillation, estimate researchers.
Study organizers will train volunteers in 24 communities throughout the United States and Canada to recognize the symptoms of cardiac arrest, call 911, and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In half of the communities, the volunteers will be trained to use defibrillators and the devices will be placed in obvious locations such as residential apartments, shopping centers, senior centers, gated communities, office buildings and sports areas. Providing volunteers with defibrillators is known as public access defibrillation.
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