Laienausbildung

Abstract

An essential aim of so-called public access defibrillation (PAD) is to enable lay rescuers to carry out defibrillation as soon as possible. However, there are different PAD strategies and concepts concerning, for example the automated external defibrillator (AED) users, their qualifications and the localization of the PAD program. A Bavarian study, in which the feasibility of the PAD was investigated, showed that dispatchable and mobile PAD concepts, meaning that a rescuer equipped with an AED can be alerted and sent to the emergency by the emergency medical service (EMS) dispatch center, are suitable strategies to improve the outcome of sudden cardiac arrest. Another result of this study was that lay rescuers showed a high degree of willingness to use an AED but knew only little about what to do in basic life support and how to use an AED. Therefore appropriate knowledge and skills have to be taught to as many lay persons as possible to achieve a successful implementation of the PAD concepts.A 2-hour (maximum 4-hour) course seems to be sufficient to gain cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and AED skills and a brief refresher course should take place after 6-12 months to retain the knowledge.