An auto defibrillator might help 50 ~ 60% of heart attack victims who fall
down with no pulse. It won't do a thing to help those who have a wide
variety of other cardiac problems.


NOYB wrote:
Most of the other cardiac problems progress to a dysrhythmia...which is what
eventually leads to asystole (ie--death). When a person is in a pulseless
dysrhythmia, you should hook up the AED, and the AED may normalize the
rhythm and restore the pulse.


Correct, as far as I understand it. That's why I say there
are a LOT of "heart attack" scenarios that an automatic
defibrillator will not help. Entirely too many people will
assume that the magic gizmo brings the dead back to life, no
matter what.




And major point: it's *ABSOLUTELY* not a substitute for thorough first-aid
& CPR training.


Agreed. I just got re-certified in BLS for Healthcare Providers, and AED
training. Not 2 weeks later, the AHA released a new protocol:

Evaluate for responsiveness/pulse/breathing
AED first...single shock *then* CPR for adolescents and adults
30:2 compressions to breaths (for adults).

http://www.americanheart.org/downloa...Winter2005.pdf


Yes, but the old protocol is still pretty good; you're
better off (and so is anybody that might be depending on
your skill). Any profession requires ongoing education, the
medical field is more intense than most in this (and many
other) aspect(s).

For reasons I'm not going to explain here, I am very close
to undergrad & resident medical education at a
world-recognized facility. One of my favorite remarks on
medical education is from a man who directed a big program
and is now at NIH: "Half of what we teach you here is wrong.
Unfortunately, nobody will know until later which half that is."

Fair Skies
Doug King