• Sarah H Bennetts, Charles D Deakin, Graham W Petley, and Frank Clewlow.
• Shackleton Department of Anaesthetics, Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, Tremona Road, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
• Resuscitation. 2004 Jan 1; 60 (1): 29-32.

IntroductionOptimal paddle force minimises transthoracic impedance; a factor associated with increased defibrillation success. Optimal force for the defibrillation of children < or =10 kg using paediatric paddles has previously been shown to be 2.9 kgf, and for children >10 kg using adult paddles is 5.1 kgf. We compared defibrillation paddle force applied during simulated paediatric defibrillation with these optimal values.Methods72 medical and nursing staff who would be expected to perform paediatric defibrillation were recruited from a University teaching hospital. Participants, blinded to the nature of the study, were asked to simulate defibrillation of an infant manikin (9 months of age) and a child manikin (6 years of age) using paediatric or adult paddles, respectively, according to guidelines. Paddle force (kgf) was measured at the time of simulated shock and compared with known optimal values.ResultsMedian paddle force applied to the infant manikin was 2.8 kgf (max 9.6, min 0.6), with only 47% operators attaining optimal force. Median paddle force applied to the child manikin was 3.8 kgf (max 10.2, min 1.0), with only 24% of operators attaining optimal force.ConclusionDefibrillation paddle force applied during paediatric defibrillation often falls below optimal values.

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