AED Program
Automated
external defibrillators (AEDs)- AED programs equip conventional ambulances with automated external defibrillators (de-FIB'rih-la-torz). Only an estimated 30 percent of emergency medical systems (E.M.S.) in the United States have put AED programs in place.
- According to a recent study, AEDs now in use are 90 percent sensitive for ventricular fibrillation and 90-95 percent specific for other heart rhythms.
- The first out-of-hospital defibrillation device weighed 110 pounds; today they weigh less than 10 pounds.
- In cities where CPR training is widespread and EMS response is rapid, the survival rate increased from 7 percent to 26 percent when AEDs were available to first responders.
- In cities where defibrillation is provided within 5 to 7 minutes, the survival rate from cardiac arrest is as high as 49 percent.
- In cities in which EMS response times are prolonged because of traffic congestion and high-rise buildings (and in which bystander CPR is infrequent), longer-term survival outcome is 1-2 percent.
- A Rochester, Minnesota, study showed remarkable survival rates when police vehicles were equipped with automated external defibrillators. Twenty-one of 44 persons with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were long-time survivors. Of these 44 victims, 14 had initial defibrillation by the police force. Of these 14, 10 survived and were discharged. The overall survival rate of 21 of 44 victims can be compared with the survival rate in New York, where 26 of 2,329 victims survived.
- In one case, AEDs were mounted 1 minute apart in plain view at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports in June 1999. In the first 10 months, 14 cardiac arrests occurred with 12 of the 14 victims in ventricular fibrillation. Nine of the 14 victims (64 percent) were revived with an AED and had no brain damage.
The City of Katy has placed AED’S on fire trucks, police cars,
public works vehicles, and in some government buildings.