AED

[1EMT-P]

A lot of clinics, hospitals, medical offices and nursing homes are using AED's in place of ACLS these days in my area.

All of the Dialysis Clinics in my area just recently replaced their Cardiac Monitor/Defib machines with AED's. The hospital also replaced most of their Cardiac Monitor/Defib machines in their clinics and on the med-surg floor with AED's. The only areas with full crash carts are the Cardiac Cath Lab, Critical Care, ED, OR & the Recovery Room.

Are AED's replacing ACLS training & full Crash Carts where you live and/or work?

[island emt]

1emtp: the reason a lot of adjunct medical facilities are swapping over to AED's is lower cost simpler to use, less training required, and face it you or i have a lot more experience in the back of the bus using a full function monitor /defib than the majority of hospital/medical facility staff. unless they work in E.D. , ICU, or Telemetry departments most R.N.'s haven't used one in years. The same goes for CPR, I recently did a recert class where out of the twenty RN's, Doc;s + EMS in the room only three of us { all emt's } had actually done CPR on a human in the last year. We purchased the Zoll AED plus units last year for the emt's on my department who carry them as part of their first response gear. We also use a Zoll M-series on the ambulance.

[Ridryder 911]

I believe getting an AED is safer for the patient, than trying to have non-experienced staff attempt ACLS measures. Also, more economical. Usually EMS is within a reasonable time, hopefully to perform ACLS measures.

Be safe,

Ridryder 911

[tunnelrat83]

I like the Life-Pack ones... course that is what i was trained on so i have a familiarity w/ them.. :-D but oh well.. that is my choice and opinon

[scottymedic]

Hey guys, I know this forum is a wee bit old, but come on, you should all know me by know to know I like to bring them back to life...

I prefer the Philips brands such as the heartstart first aid for first responders, the fact of them telling the person how to do cpr, as well as the ability to do pediatric defibrillation rocks. Small and lightweight.

In terms of the other questions, alot of places i have seen still have either a manual defibrillator, or some places have no defib at all. At my college there is a lifepak ten, which is locked in the nursing supplies room, out of everyone on campus, there would probably be only 3 of us (The doctor on campus, one lecturer and myself) trained and certified to use it. I was fighting for an AED for the facility and they said no. Scares me, ah well i have left that college and am taking 6 months break to finish other projects. hehehehe

Im back with EMT city and looking forward to getting into the posts again

Scottymedic

The one, the only, Who else would you expect

[nick46928]

At one of the facilities that I used to work at we had an AED but there was only 3 people on staff that were actually trained in using it. We did have a guy code on us one day and the nurse that I was working (the nurse was running the code because I worked there in a non-ems role) was ACLS certified but refused to use the AED even when I suggested it multiple times. So I guess even having one is no guarantee that it will ever do any good.

[spenac]

refused to use the AED even when I suggested it multiple times. So I guess even having one is no guarantee that it will ever do any good.

Thats scary. Even the TV teaches the public that to have a chance a person needs AED or other means to shock in the first few minutes.

Hey you just pulled a code on a dead 2005 post.

[EMT City Administrator]

If there is new info to add, I am OK with the post save...

[AnthonyM83]

Having seen how reluctant a lot of the staff of nursing homes are in initiating even BLS assistance to patients, I'm thinking AEDs replacing ACLS is probabaly an A+ idea...in most places.

[swn919]

Cardiac Science is the way to go... Pedi pads, Easy use, and the QA ablities are great (ie hooking it up to the computer to see the initial rhythm and time of shocks and changes in rhythm)