In today’s world, people very much fancy what is easy and fast. We have very much become a “Quick Fix” society, with much emphasis placed on fast, easy pleasure with little regard for extreme consequences.
As such, many Americans have taken a liking to smoking, drinking, and overeating. With these factors contributing to high blood pressure and cholesterol, it’s no wonder that the leading cause of death in America is heart disease.
Strokes and heart attacks, which stem from increased cholesterol and blood pressure, can be stopped using an automated external defibrillator (AED) by healthcare professionals. However, there have been recent trials conducted by the American Heart Association AHA that show there may be great benefit in placing AEDs in stores, offices, and even around college campuses and teaching laymen how to use them properly. Making AEDs as common as fire extinguishers and training people to use them properly is a smart and effective way of saving lives and should be practiced in most public arenas.
According to the AHA, most sudden cardiac deaths are due to an overly rapid heart rhythm known as ventricular fibrillation. The key to fighting this condition is to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm as quickly as possible. The AED is a machine connected to two paddles containing electrodes that are placed on the patient’s bare chest: one paddle below the right shoulder and the other along the patient’s left side.
Once activated, the AED reads the rhythm of the heart and is able to detect whether it is in fact shockable or not. The only two rhythms that are shockable are ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The first entails that the lower two chambers of the heart, the ventricles, are beating too fast. The second entails that all four chambers of the heart are beating too fast.
Between 20 and 25 percent of cardiac deaths occur in public places where bystanders are available to offer assistance until emergency medical services arrive. When it comes to the heart, time is very important and if there are people available to use the AED on a patient in the time that it takes the EMTs to arrive on scene, that patient’s life may depend on it. The longer the heart goes without oxygen, the lesser the chance is that the patient will survive.
With the advancements in medical technology, the AED is designed so that a person with little prior knowledge of the equipment can use it with little to no difficulty. The AED tells the user what to do, when to shock, when to check for a pulse, and when to resume cardiopulmonary resuscitation. With the instructions being repeated during the process, it would be relatively easy for any laymen or bystander to be trained in using the device.
“At this point, a prescription is required to obtain an AED, but we believe the likelihood of harm is very minimal,” said Joseph P. Ornato, professor and chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, according to the American Heart Association’s Web site. “These devices have been engineered so that it would be very difficult to shock someone who doesn’t need to be shocked.”
Today, many public places such as Shop Rite and many fitness gyms have an AED available in case of an emergency. They train their employees on how to use them properly and what to do until the emergency medical services arrive.
With the amount of deaths increasing in America due to heart disease, it is imperative that more people know how to use an AED properly, and that they are more commonly located in places such as stores, offices, and college campuses.
Just as more and more people are becoming trained in the use of basic CPR, more and more stores and locations should be carrying AEDs. It is a good safety precaution that can increase public survival rates, and for someone in cardiac arrest, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Allison Edles is a Collegian columnist.
