The Effect of the AED and AED Programs on Survival of Individuals, Groups and Populations

Abstract

The AED can affect survival among patients with sudden ventricular fibrillation (VF). Components of AED programs that affect outcome include the operator, location, the emergency response system, ongoing maintenance and evaluation. Comparing outcomes is complicated by variations in definitions of populations and variables. The effect of AEDs on individuals can be dramatic, but the effect on populations is limited.

Inaccurate treatment decisions of automated external defibrillators used by emergency medical services personnel: Incidence, cause and impact on outcome

“…[19][20][21][22][23][24] Only via critical analysis of prospectively registered data, results may improve and costs may represent good value for (public) money. Second, device malfunctions occasionally occur and should be detected in a timely fashion by post-market surveillance.…”

Public-Access Defibrillation in Sudden Cardiac Arrest

“…In most countries of the world, the average time from a call to the EMS service before it arrives in place is 5-8 min. During this time the patient's survival depends on the CPR and AED providers [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Every minute of delay with defibrillation reduces the likelihood of survival by 10-15%. Early defibrillation is possible if an AED located in a public place is available [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: contemporary management and future perspectives

“…Public education programmes and use of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) have both been suggested to improve outcomes in VF arrests. However, the effectiveness of AEDs is strongly related to a large number of variables including operator experience, location, the emergency response system, ongoing maintenance and evaluation,12 thus making it difficult to extrapolate results for the general population.…”