What actually is an AED?

You know the headlines in the media when a commercial airliner crashes and there are hundreds of deaths? Now what if there were so many victims to mourn, not sometimes, but every day? Sound like a lot? Indeed, it is. A full plane is roughly equivalent to the number of people who die of sudden cardiac death every day. And that is in India alone.

What actually is 'sudden cardiac death'?

Sudden cardiac death is defined as an unexpected cardiovascular failure that leads to the death of the affected person if no countermeasures are taken.

Who can be affected?

Basically, any person of any age can be equally affected. A higher statistical risk is found with increasing age and with pre-existing cardiac diseases. But young and so far completely healthy people can also be among the victims, unfortunately even children and teenagers.

Are many people affected by this?

In India alone, about 100,000 people die of sudden cardiac death every year. The number of unreported cases is probably much higher.

What are the causes?

The human heart consists of many individual muscle cells. Normally, these muscle cells work well coordinated with each other and thus pump blood through the human body. In sudden cardiac death, this coordination is severely disrupted. Each heart muscle cell does what it wants, but none does what its supposed to do. As a result, the heart can no longer pump blood through the body and the circulation stops. Without immediate countermeasures, this condition results in death after a few minutes.

What are the symptoms of the affected person?

The HeartSave Series defibrillators perform automatic self-tests on a daily basis to ensure operational readiness. Since the energy module is also tested here, it is ensured that the device and energy module are ready for use. The result of the self-tests can also be viewed remotely by the operator on the status display.

What to do?

The top priority is to call emergency services as quickly as possible. In India, the ambulance and emergency physician are alerted by dialling 112. What you need to report to the control centre are the emergency keywords sudden cardiac death and unconscious person without a pulse.

What needs to happen next?

Promptly start with the life-saving immediate measures, such as those you learned during a first aid course or emergency training. This includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation through cardiac massage as well as rescue breathing, if you are confident enough to do so.

What about the AED?

If an AED is available, it should be urgently used. Only the combination of efficient cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation using an AED can significantly increase the persons chances of survival.

Is the AED really that important?

Studies have examined three different scenarios of how first aiders behave in the event of sudden cardiac death:

  • If the first aiders only call an ambulance and do nothing else, the chances of survival of the victim are at about 2-5%.
  • If the first aiders call an ambulance and immediately begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the victim's chances of survival increase to about 10-20%
  • If the first aiders also use an AED as quickly as possible, the victim's chances increase to 70-80%

Now please decide for yourself whether an AED might be important and useful.

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When should an AED be used?

There are clear priorities in the care of the affected person:

  1. Call emergency services
  2. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
  3. Use of an AED

Only after the first two have been completed should an AED be used. However, do not interrupt the measures under any circumstances to fetch an AED yourself. If you are alone, focus on CPR only. Always have another person bring the AED to you while you are performing immediate life-saving measures.

How to use an AED?

The HeartSaver series AEDs have been designed to be completely intuitive for a layperson to use without prior knowledge. As soon as the cover is opened, the HeartSaver series AEDs switch on automatically. After a brief self-test, the AEDs guide you safely through the operation of the device and complete cardiopulmonary resuscitation with brief and concise voice instructions. At the same time, the AEDs can adapt individually to your working speed. This way, relevant voice instructions are repeated several times if you do not follow them directly. If you are working faster than the instructions, the AED can skip individual prompts to save valuable time in caring for the patient.

Is there anything I can do wrong?

No, not really. The HeartSaver series AEDs are self-explanatory and safe to use.

What if I deliver a shock and the person doesnt need it?

Thats exactly what cannot happen in the first place. With the HeartSave series AEDs, the need for a shock is determined solely by the AED. Only if the AED identifies the need for defibrillation when analysing the patients ECG will the necessary energy be charged and made available. If the AED decides that defibrillation is not required, no energy is charged and the shock button is not released. The first aider cannot – even if they wanted to – harm the victim with the AED.

Who is entitled to use an AED?

Everyone. Since the user can do absolutely nothing wrong with an AED, it may be used by any person who is confident to do so.

Are there many AEDs available already?

Fortunately, awareness of sudden cardiac death has grown tremendously over many years. More and more AEDs have been and are being made available in workplaces, businesses and public areas to provide the highest level of safety for employees and visitors. There are several publicly available platforms where you can view the locations of all the AEDs in your area.

Do you have any questions or would you like some advice?

If you want to know more about purchasing an AED or would like individual advice on suitable products, we would be pleased to hear from you. You can also use our contact form to let us know how best to reach you so that we can quickly answer your query.