• Luan Lawson and Juan March.
• Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University, School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
• Prehosp Emerg Care. 2002 Jul 1; 6 (3): 295-8.

UnlabelledFor patients with sudden cardiac death (SCD), the time interval to defibrillation is the main determinant of survival. As such, the American Heart Association has attempted to promote public-access defibrillation (PAD). Previous studies have shown that automated external defibrillators (AEDs) can be used successfully by untrained adults.ObjectiveTo determine whether very young, untrained children could use AEDs.MethodsThird-grade students from an elementary school participated in this study representing a convenience sample of volunteers. They were given no formal training, but were shown how to peel off the backing from the electrode pads, like a sticker. Students were then given a mock code situation using a training manikin. The time to delivery of first shock was recorded. Students were then trained during a 2-minute review of the process, one on one with an instructor, and the study was then repeated. Data were analyzed using a paired Student's t-test comparing pre- and post-training.ResultsThirty-one children participated in the study, with a median age of 9 years. For untrained children, the mean time for delivery of the first shock was 59.3 +/- 13.6 seconds, 95% CI = 54.3 to 64.3. Following training, the mean time for delivery of the first shock was 35.2 +/- 6.0 seconds, 95% CI = 33.0 to 37.4, p = 0.001.ConclusionAlthough this study suggests that even very young, untrained children can successfully perform automated external defibrillation, training does significantly decrease the time to delivery of first shock.

22 keywords...

hide…