Archive for the ‘CPR’ Category

Why Cardiac Arrest Survival Odds are Better in Public Places

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Cardiac arrest is when the heart ceases to function. A heart attack, which is the blockage of a vessel supplying a heart muscle, can cause the heart to stop. But nearly 80% of cardiac arrests are not caused by a heart attack. Instead, they are what EMT’s call “shockable arrests.” That is when the heart’s electrical signals have gone haywire, but can be reset by the delivery of a powerful electric shock. Most people die within minutes from cardiac arrest; the survival rate is an abysmal eight percent. But an individual’s chance to recover is significantly higher if the arrest occurs in public. That’s because people trained in CPR, meaning cardiopulmonary resuscitation, are more likely to be around. Better yet the little machine designed to provide that critical electric shock could be nearby, too. Minutes and even seconds are critical in rescuing somebody from cardiac arrest.

“Shockable Arrests”

Electrical signals from the brain tell the heart when to beat. Similar to the action of a timing belt, these signals control which parts of the heart does its job and when. For a variety of reasons, the heart goes into what’s called ventricular tachycardia or VT. This is when the heart goes into hyper-drive, beating from 120 to over 200 times a minute. A normal heart rate at rest is 60 to 80 beats per minute. The lower heart chambers, or ventricles, begin to beat blood out faster than they can fill. If VT continues, the heart can then advance to deadly VF, or ventricle fibrillation. VF is when the ventricles can only twitch uselessly, stopping the blood flow to the brain. This is the point of no return. Unless electric shock is applied within less than five minutes, asystole, better known as flat line, follows. Usually after then even electric shock has no effect because the heart has died. If cardiac arrest happens at home, chances are slim that machine and those trained people are available.

Automated External Defibrillator

That little machine is a godsend to people who have gone into VF. Designed to be used by anybody able to follow a few brief directions, the automated external defibrillator, or AED, delivers that critical shock to restore normal rhythm. Leads are simply and easily attached to the chest. They then inform the machine if indeed the heart has arrested and it it’s because of VF. If it determines the need for shock it can be delivered immediately. The shock actually stops the heart completely. It then rests momentarily before it hopefully resumes beating at a more normal rhythm. The AED can confirm this.

These life-saving machines are found in more and more locations every day. They’re in many places; airports, office buildings, restaurants, courthouses, schools and even bars are stocking them. There’s good reason for this. More than a third of people who suffer cardiac arrest in public and treated with an AED survived. That’s much better odds than the national average of only eight percent.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Cardiac Arrest, CPR, Defibrillator News, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators, Heart Disease, Survival Stories

Tags:

The Importance of Defibrillators in Public Places

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

A defibrillator is a valuable device to have around when there’s an emergency situation, such as a person’s having cardiac arrest, or when their heart stops and it is not receiving enough oxygen, which in many cases have proved to be fatal.

A defibrillator is a device that is designed to “jumpstart” a person’s heart when it has suddenly stopped functioning properly. Another name for a defibrillator is an AED, which stands for Automated External Defibrillator. At one time, because most people didn’t have enough knowledge on how to come to the aid of a person’s suffering from cardiac arrest, defibrillators weren’t as commonplace as they are becoming today, but because of the rise of heart-related fatalities in recent decades, the presence of defibrillators in public places are becoming increasingly common.

The importance of having defibrillators in public places is just as important as having fire alarms in public places. Just imagine a school or an office building having no fire alarms. Then how are people going to know whether or not to evacuate a potential danger situation? That’s the purpose of having defibrillators.

Because we live in an unpredictable world in which anything can happen at any given moment, it’s always good to be prepared. As the old adage goes, ‘to be forewarned is to be forearmed’. The same applies in having a defibrillator in a public place.

Happily, the presence of defibrillators in public places is now rapidly beginning to catch on. In many places, wherever’s there’s a fire alarm, there’s a defibrillator right next to it. Also like a fire alarm, it has written instruction on how to properly use a defibrillator in the event of an emergency.

Yes, defibrillators are finally becoming part of the social consciousness of society today. This is not just true in America, but throughout the world as a whole. People get sick everywhere, so they want to have access to the same safety facilities as Americans do.

Sometimes-unfortunately-this may affect us in a personal way. One day, one of our loved ones or we may appreciate the value of having a defibrillator by our side. This is something that has been hit close to home for some.

So, there’s no reason to be surprised if we should see such a device in our school, office building, or even our local restaurant. Unfortunate situations happen everywhere, and it’s better to have such defibrillators right there on the premises than to have to wait for an ambulance, which can take who knows how long, and when they arrive, it may be too late.

Yes, defibrillators have finally become a common staple of many institutions, it is being taken seriously by many people, who perhaps formerly did not appreciate its value-until something happened to them or someone that they love-or loved.

Never underestimate the importance of having a defibrillator around. It can truly be a lifesaver, just as it already has to numerous people, who can testify as to its effectiveness. By all means, always appreciate the importance of having defibrillators in public places.

Leave your comment »

Posted in CPR, Defibrillator News, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators, Heart Disease

Tags:

Sudden Cardiac Arrest: What You Can Do to Help

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Heart attacks or cardiac arrest are killers. These killers are often silent and appear with little to no warning. The heart muscle is a unique muscle of the body. The skeletal muscles need direct impulses from the nervous system in order to perform the required duty. The smooth muscles of the body, the ones responsible for breathing and digesting foods, also need impulses from the body. The heart does not need any outside source to tell it when and how to beat. This is the definition for automaticity. The heart has pacemaker cells which work in unison with each other to ensure the complete filling and expulsion of blood with each heartbeat. The heart will beat on its own over 40 million times a year. This is until something convinces the heart to stop working. Poor diet, genetics, cigarette smoking are just a few outside elements which can help to weaken the heart. Even the high energy drinks which make your heart race can cause the heart to enlarge just like a body builders muscles get bigger with each work out. This takes away from the needed elasticity of the heart muscle. When any portion of the heart is outside of normal conditions it threatens the life of the person it is in.

Contrary to television, a flat line, asystole, isn’t when you deliver an electrical shock. Ventricular Fibrillation, the most common rhythm of a cardiac insult, and Ventricular Tachycardia are the only two conditions the heart can tolerate and benefit from an external electrical push. Electricity is needed during these times to help “re-set’ the automatic conduction cells of the heart, preferably the Sino-Atrial Node. External defibrillators are the only device approved for this emergency.

Many different companies make various styles of these important machines. It does not matter the make or the model, all of them are equally important during a cardiac arrest. AED’s or defibrillators are fool proof. Turn them on and they will tell you what to do each step of the way. This is probably the most critical event to happen during an arrest, CPR is not as important as the delivery of the electricity, as long as the defibrillator tells you “shock advised”. Defibrillation’s the one event which may take a quivering heart out of one of the two fatal rhythms. CPR buys time for the defibrillator to arrive and to be attached to the victim.

In a simplistic explanation of what an AED or defibrillator will do is as follows:
After ensuring you are safe and the patient is not wet, turn the device on, some power up once the case has been opened. The defibrillator will tell you to attach pads, then to press analyze. Once a rhythm has been identified it will tell you “shock advised” or “continue CPR.” Make sure no one is touching the victim when you press “analyze” or “shock,” defibrillators will interpret the rhythm incorrectly and will deliver a shock to the person touching the victim.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Cardiac Arrest, CPR, Defibrillator News, Defibrillators, Heart Disease

Tags:

Simple Steps to Saving a Life with AED

Monday, April 25th, 2011

The steps to saving a life with an automated external defibrillator (AED) are safe and simple to follow. When a person is undergoing a cardiac arrest, the first five minutes are the most important because if nothing is done within this short period of time, the patient will succumb to death. The first step is to make sure that there are at least two people so that one will call 911 and the other will retrieve the AED. If there is only one person, the first step is to call for emergency response team, then fetch the AED and later check if the patient is breathing.

Performing CPR is simple when AED is readily available. A person needs to check if the patient is still breathing. Most cases, the patient will have difficulties while breathing and they will fall down. Positioning a person for CPR is very easy because you want to put the device on the patient’s chest. This means that the patient should be positioned to lie on her back. The head should be tilted back and chin rose to check for breathing. This check should not exceed 10 seconds because time is an important factor. If the patient on the floor is not breathing, two rescue breaths should be administered. Signs of blood circulation should be checked before attaching the AED. When there no signs, it means that the heart is slowly failing. The AED should be turned on and audio commands followed. The most amazing thing about this device is that it does not require very technical skills to operate it. The audio command does everything and the device first analyzes the heart for a slight pulse which can be shocked.

The device has two pads that should be attached on the patient’s chest. One pad is attached on the right chest upper side while the other one is attached on the lower left side. These pads need to be dry and this means water or sweat needs to be wiped off the patient’s chest before attaching the pads. The pads are labeled and this shows a person where they should be attached. There is a wire that goes to the AED from the two pads. These wires should be attached to the AED for the defibrillator to work.

One of the most important things to note when operating the AED is that nobody should touch the patient while the AED is on. This means that when the device starts to analyze for a pulse, other people near the patient should clear off because the AED will be incorrect and analyze others pulses. The ‘Analyze’ button is clearly labeled and this should be pressed for the AED to automatically start its analysis. The analysis will be complete after a short time and then the audio command will ask for a shock. The shock button should be pressed and then let the AED reanalyze again. This will help save a life and if the patient is not breathing, rescue breaths should be administered until the chest raises and then allow the AED to reanalyze. Once the patient is breathing easily, she should be placed in a resting position and wait for the emergency personnel.

Leave your comment »

Posted in CPR, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators

Tags:

Defibrillators: Learn How to Save a Heart

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Recent statistics show that 95% of victims who suffer cardiac arrest die before they can be seen at a hospital. However, if the same victim is given CPR or receives the first shock from an automated external defibrillator (AED) within 3-5 minutes, the chances of survival increase significantly and can be as high as 74%.

Defibrillation is a process whereby an electric shock is delivered to the heart to help establish a normal rhythm. In the last few years, small automated external defibrillators have been developed so that the public has access to them if a cardiac event occurs nearby. AED’s are compact, battery operated, lightweight and sturdy.

Automatic external defibrillators are making their way into more public locations each year because of the benefits that they offer. AEDs are easy to use and, should someone desire to be trained, one can learn how to save a heart. AEDs are self-regulated, meaning that they make the decisions for you. They monitor and analyze the victim’s heart rate, and if the AED determines it is necessary to shock the victim, it will walk you through the process. The AED is equipped with a screen you can read, or in newer models, it offers a vocal feature that instructs you what to do and when to do it.

AEDs can now be found in locations such as airports, schools, convention halls, restaurants and sports venues. Some private individuals are purchasing them for home use as well. In order to make them easy to locate, the AED is normally brightly colored and mounted very near the entrance of a building. Once the AED is removed from its holder, and an alarm that alerts staff it has been removed and the possibility of a cardiac event exists. It does not alert emergency services, however, and the user of the AED or someone in the area will still need to alert 911 for emergency response.

When the AED unit is activated, it will then begin its instructions for the user. The first step is to connect the pads, or electrodes, to the victim. This allows the unit to monitor the victim’s heart rate to determine if shock is needed. Once the determination has been made to shock the victim, the unit will charge itself to prepare for the shock. When the unit is charged sufficiently, it will instruct the user to make sure that no one is touching the patient. After the victim is shocked, the unit will then reanalyze the heart rate and rhythm and will give further instructions based on that analysis.

Most states in the U.S. now include the use of AEDs in their “Good Faith” or “Good Samaritan” laws. This means that any person is allowed to use the AED to help someone with a heart attack or other cardiac emergency and they cannot be held civilly liable in the event of death or injury.

A defibrillator can save a heart when used during a cardiac emergency.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Cardiac Arrest, CPR, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators, Heart Disease

Tags:

Should we Include CPR and AED in Public Education?

Friday, April 8th, 2011

CPR means cardiopulmonary resuscitation and is a lifesaving procedure in emergencies. The procedure is performed on people who have stopped breathing or have no heartbeat like it is common in cases of drowning and electric shocking. This procedure involves the use of breathing techniques meant to provide the necessary oxygen to the patient suffering from the condition allowing proper circulation of blood thereby restoring proper heart neat and breathing.

Failure to offer the procedure when it is most needed could lead to brain damage that could be permanent or even worse; it can cause death since there is no blood flowing to the brain. This means that the procedure is very important in terms of saving lives. The procedures vary according to the size and age of the patient and there is therefore a need to have some kind of training on what’s best and in what situations.

AED on the hand stands for Automated External Defibrillator which is an electric device used to get rid of cardiac arrests. The device works by analyzing the heart situation and determining the kind of wattage in electric current needed by the patient to get the heart beating back to normal. The electric current administered by the device stops the heart and starts it assisting it in beating within the normal rates saving the lives of many people. External defibrillators do not need medical expertise to be used effectively in saving lives so long as there is the knowledge to start them and to place them correctly onto the chest area. They are especially of great importance where no medical facility is nearby and the life could be lost as medical help is called for.

CPR and AED training is important to the public as there is no telling when need might call. There is nothing worse than been caught up in a desperate situation with the right device at hand and then not knowing what to do to save the life of the person in danger. It might take much more than CPR to save the life of a person suffering from cardiac arrests and since AEDs are now available even in public places, there is a great need to train the public on the best procedures and the right precautions to take in such case.

The AED and CPR education should be taken with the same seriousness that first aid is given if at all a great majority of people are to know how to save lives when the situations strikes. Cardiac arrests can occur at any time and place and can attack any person making it very important to have the right knowledge on the use of the devices together with the right breathing techniques to administer to the person as the right person are waited for or as the patient is rushed to the hospital.

The training does not take a long time and the public should therefore undergo the basics of lifesaving using AEDs and CPR techniques. This could be very important in saving the lives of those who desperately need the procedures.

Leave your comment »

Posted in CPR, Defibrillator News, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators

Tags:

Survival Rates Increase with Defibrillators in Large Venues

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Large venues like shopping malls, sports arena, airports and public learning institutions have a higher survival rate when defibrillators are easily available. Studies show that people who collapse in such places have a chance of survival as compared to when the person could have collapsed at home. Large venues have all sorts of people: paramedics, nurses, doctors and bystanders who are quick to act when there is an emergency.

Large venues also have many automatic external defibrillators that can be operated in less than two minutes. A person who collapses at a mall is considered as an active person who went shopping. A person who suffers a cardiac arrest in a sports arena is believed to be very energetic and when the procedure to normalize the heart’s rhythm is performed survival rates will increase. People who experience a cardiac arrest while at home are mostly very old people whose hearts have very faint rhythms and have underlying conditions.

Bystanders in large venues do not stand and watch while a person dies of a cardiac arrest. People are quick to help and CPR skills are put into use while someone else fetches the defibrillator. Trying to keep the blood flowing to other key body organs is crucial because when the defibrillator shocks the heart, the victim will recover faster when taken to the hospital.

A study shows that out 34% of the total number of cardiac arrest victims in public areas survive when an AED is used to shock the heart. The heart usually has a disrupted rhythm that can be shocked after CPR and 79% of the victims have this condition that increases survival. It is easier when a cardiac arrest person is in a public place with many people because response team dispatched to help arrives within minutes and also emergency team from the nearest hospital will be quick. Many people divide the activities that need to be done for a person to actually survive a heart attack. One person will call 911, the other will fetch the AED while another one will administer CPR.

The fact that CPR alone cannot help a victim’s heart restart means that if a person collapses at home or a large venue without AED procedure, it does not make a difference in survival rates. The important device is the AED because it can detect the faintest heart rhythm that can be shocked and restart the heart. In large venues, defibrillators are labeled and easily to reach so that in case of emergency, a person will take less than one minute to remove it and start the procedure. The fact that about 300, 000 Americans die annually due to cardiac arrest especially old people means that public response is very important when helping a person who has collapsed far away from a health institution. People nowadays train in basic lifesaving skills and in large venues, it is very possible to find one or two people and even more who have the knowledge to use an AED and make necessary steps like remove metal necklaces, shave chest hair, remove wire bras and also move the victim from a place that has a water to a dry area.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Cardiac Arrest, CPR, Defibrillator News, Defibrillator Training, Defibrillators, Heart Disease, Survival Stories

Tags:

Preventing Heart Disease

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Heart disease prevention is one of the main primary concerns of people of all ages. The reason for the concern about heart disease is due to the fact that heart disease is increasingly affecting people of younger ages year after year. So taking precautions to prevent heart disease has become an imperative importance of to so many people in the world. In order to take these precautions, people must consider maintaining a healthy diet, balancing calorie intake, and performing regular daily exercise.

Maintaining a healthy diet is not just a simple as shopping for foods that are marked ‘heart healthy’ in the supermarket. One of the reasons for looking out for different foods that are contributors to a healthy diet is so that your body can maintain a normal daily balance of essential vitamins and minerals that are crucial to daily bodily maintenance. Buying foods that are marked as ‘heart healthy’ does not always necessarily mean that they are particularly healthy for a person’s heart. In fact, without proper moderation of these particular foods that promote heart health, these foods can work to become an adverse effect on a person’s body. Foods that are great to look out for are foods that are rich in color such as dark green, red, and purple vegetables that provide an adequate amount of minerals and antioxidants that work to protect the body from harm.

As noted in the previous paragraph, overindulging on ‘heart healthy’ foods can definitely cause more harm than good. The reason for this is that calories should be moderated over a long period of time in order to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. This can help to significantly reduce the effects of obesity which cause a number of significant and extremely harmful heart diseases which can cause quick mortality. A number of these diseases include hypertension, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and related cancers such as breast, endometrial, kidney, mouth, larynx, and esophagus cancers.

However, most heart diseases and bodily diseases are particularly the onset by the over consumption of foods which are chemically processed and contain a high amount of sodium, sugars, and trans fats. These kinds of foods include carbonated sugar filled soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, fast food hamburgers and fries, potato chips, crackers. Excessive consumption of meat and dairy like whole milk and cheese can also contribute to the possibility of having heart disease.

Another important thing that people should consider in heart disease prevention is to start and maintain a daily exercise routine. Research shows that adults between the ages of 18 and 64 should increase exercise activity to at least 225 min. of moderate to intense exercise activity. This will significantly reduce the risks of contracting heart diseases. Three important types of exercise can be included in a person’s daily physical activity routine. These exercises include aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening activities. It is not necessary to join a gym in order to get these type of exercises accomplished. Many of these exercises can be found online at YouTube or various their friends sports advocating websites. In addition, having a heart defibrillator on hand can also be of great assistance to people who are in need of monitoring their heart.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Cardiac Arrest, CPR, Defibrillators, Heart Disease

Tags:

CPR & AED Training for High School Graduates

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) education and training should be required for high school students. They are the next generation and most cardiac arrest events occur in the home. In a sense, this entire next generation could become first responders and prevent many potential needless deaths.

States have various recommendations when it comes to the length of certification and a benefit is that relearning the process of CPR and how to use an AED allows for trainees to remain up to date on any technology changes. Recently, the American Heart Association (AHA) released an advisory calling for these trainings during secondary education because cardiac arrest is one the top causes of death in the country. Every year, when students graduate a fresh new group of highly trained youth enters society ready to act without hesitation when an emergency occurs.

There are many challenges to consider when trying to implement this training and actually require it for qualifying for graduation. Some may say it necessitates more funding but at least some of the cost is already built into an average school system’s budget. Most schools already teach health and allocate a certain percentage of funds from its budget to cover instructing human health topics.

Others may say we should concentrate on the main goal of education first: instructing our youth in science, math and other subjects to properly prepare them for their future in their respective communities. Again, the financial resources should already be built into existing budgets. This is also similar to the argument that there is only so much time during a school day and every hour comes at a premium. Again, this training could be included into health science or physical education classes.

AED’s are increasingly becoming popular in malls, airports, theaters and even passenger ferries. Training students before an accident or emergency occurs should increase the chances of survival for any trauma victim. Having more trained civilians in society increases the chance that a bystander will have the knowledge and training to assist during any emergency and their confidence will help calm any friends and family of this victim.

Some proposals have included reusing the same mannequins for CPR and AED training purposes throughout a school system. The same concept could apply for the AED devices.

Another benefit to consider is that this age group is associated with positions in which this training is a great benefit. Some high school students are babysitters, lifeguards and other positions which may actually require this type of training.

Important details such as chest compression techniques could be demonstrated if the trainee might not be willing to proceed with mouth to mouth CPR if called for. Proper procedures to perform until professional first responders arrive could mean all the difference in a trauma victim’s chances of survival.

The next step is each state or the federal government passing legislation to ensure this important training is offered and completed by students.

Leave your comment »

Posted in CPR, Defibrillator Training

Tags:

Educating the Public about CPR and AEDs

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

AED & CPR Training
Portable defibrillators have come as a major breakthrough in the medical world as they have made it easier to save lives. These are some of the most crucial devices carried around today by a number of ambulances and people. The devices can help save a life when ventricular tachycardia of ventricular fibrillation becomes persistence thereby threatening the life of the individual in question.

The portable devices have come in handy in thousands of occasion where there were no right medical personnel in resuscitating people suffering from cardiac arrests saving them from the jaws of death. They are essential in helping the patients before they get to the hospital to get the right treatment and care that they might need.

The automated external defibrillators have undergone gradual improvements over the years with the attention given to the design and the portability of the gadgets. They are also made in such a way that they are able to analyze the heart rhythm and diagnose the right shock rhythm then charge. This is of great importance since it means that there are basically no skills needed in resuscitating the heart provided one has the knowledge of using the device. Even without a medical background, ordinary people can attend to emergencies using the AED.

Years back, the bulky defibrillators were dangerous when left in the hands of untrained personnel and they never left the hospitals but with the portable devices now, it is easy to move around with them and even use them when the situation calls without worrying that they might not function well or that they might pose dangers to the person suffering and person administering in case they are not used well.

With the portable devices, it is now much easier to save lives regardless where the situation calls for such measures. Since the cases of cardiac arrest seem to be increasing by the day, the portable defibrillators have come in handy and are very useful even in the streets and homes where the six minutes can mean a lot ion saving a life. It is not always that emergencies occur in areas where there is a hospital or medical care nearby.

The good thing about the automated defibrillators is that they have the ability to determine whether the patient suffering from cardiac arrest really needs the shocks. On realizing that there is indeed a need to administer the current, it is able to measure the right voltage needed for that particular case. This is an important feature as it means that an individual does not have to worry about wasting the wattage or administering the wrong wattage on the individual. The only important thing is to know how to use the device and it does the rest.

Portable defibrillators come in designs that are friendly meaning that they do not cause any storage problems as they can be stored in almost every place chosen. The designs have now made it possible for schools, airports, gate communities and other places and events have the important device just in case there is a need to save a life when least expected.

Leave your comment »

Posted in CPR, Defibrillator Training

Tags: