AEDs Are Everywhere — So Why Aren’t Survival Rates Improving?

The government and businesses have purchased thousands of AEDs, they are virtually everywhere and yet the survival rates haven’t improved. We still have <5% survival rate and yet the rare times when the public starts CPR and uses an AED the survival rates are more like 35% — that could mean the difference of 1,000’s of lives saved every year. AEDs Are Everywhere — So Why Aren’t Survival Rates Improving? The government and businesses have purchased thousands of AEDs, they are virtually everywhere and yet the survival rates haven’t improved. We still have <5% survival rate and yet the rare times when the public starts CPR and uses an AED the survival rates are more like 35% — that could mean the difference of 1,000’s of lives saved every year. As we discussed in The Big Mistake blog this is part three – How AEDs Actually Work. Please watch this short video on how an AED actually works so you can become a willing bystander. 📺 Watch the video below.

How AEDs Work — And Why Timing Matters

People need to know that an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is quite easy to use. The situation of managing someone in cardiac arrest is stressful and likely very upsetting, but the patient needs people to help them. When the heart goes into cardiac arrest and stops beating and pumping blood, the person will die within 5–10 minutes — long before the 9-1-1 Emergency Services arrive. Over 90% of the time when a person’s heart stops, the heart goes into a rhythm called “Ventricular Fibrillation” — and the only way to stop the heart from fibrillating is to DE-fibrillate it. Hence the name Defibrillator. That is why defibrillators were invented: to reset the heart and return a normal rhythm so it can start working and pumping blood again.

What To Do If Someone Collapses — Step By Step

If you find a person unconscious — please yell for help and have someone call 9-1-1, assess the patient, determine if the patient is unconscious, not moving, does not have any signs of circulation or does not have a pulse. If so, then start CPR immediately and have someone bring you the AED. Once the AED is available, turn it on, stop CPR, and follow the voice prompts. The 4 Steps to using an AED are:

1. Turn on the AED and follow the voice prompts
2. Connect the electrodes — simply peel the electrodes off the plastic and stick them on the patient’s skin as shown in the electrode package
3. Let the AED analyze the heart rhythm — the voice prompt will say “Do not touch the patient, analyzing the heart rhythm”
4. If a shock is advised — the voice prompt will say “Shock Advised – Press the Flashing Shock Button.” Tell everyone to stand clear, don’t touch the patient, and then press the flashing shock button when it is safe, so the AED can deliver the life-saving shock

If the AED says “No Shock Advised,” the AED cannot deliver a shock. Even if you push the shock button, you cannot override the device. This is why there has never been a lawsuit in the use of AEDs in Canada. The Good Samaritan Law and the Chase McEachern Act protect the public from any legal action when they are trying to help a patient and use an AED.  Please Become a willing bystander™ your family, friends, coworkers and community members will all be happy did!