Can Hospital Standard Manual Defibrillators Be Replaced By Automatic External Defibrillators: Results On A Simulated Model

Abstract

Introduction: Although AED (automated external defibrillator) are being placed in many public places, standard manual defibrillator (SMD) still predominates in the hospital setting. Study Objective: Determine differences in time to first shock by residents comparing AED's to SMD's. Methods: Emergency Medicine residents were tested using both AED and SMD separately in simulated cardiac arrests. Measurements included time from discovery of the simulated cardiac arrest to first shock delivered. Results: Median times to first shock for 20 residents were: SMD) 86.0 seconds; AED) 80.25 seconds (difference, 0.5 second; 95%CI: -18.0 to 27.0; Wilcoxon P=0.985). SMD-AED differences for first-year residents (-28.5), second-year (25.7) and thirdyear (10.0) were not significantly different (Kruskal-Wallis P=0.85). Conclusion: The time to first shock for Emergency Medicine residents in all stages of training, was not impacted by their using AED or SMD. This study supports the decision to extend the placement of AED's to the hospital setting. Presented at: American College of Emergency Physicians Research Forum; October 2001; Chicago, Illinois