Lay People Can Save Lives Using Auto-Defibrillators
Edward Lewis
June 05, 2006
A first ever large-scale study has concluded that trained volunteers and lay people can use automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to save the lives of people who suffer a cardiac arrest in public places.
The Brescia Early Defibrillation Study (BEDs) was initiated after the Italian government passed a law allowing the use of AEDs by non-medical and non-paramedical personnel. Brescia is a county in Italy with a large mixed of rural and urban living environment. It has an area of more than 4,800 square kilometres and a population of over one million.
The research was led by Dr. Riccardo Cappato from Policlinico San Donato, University of Milan and colleagues from the University of Brescia and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.
Though the study began in 2000, for a two-year period before that the research team collected data to set the parameters for the study, including the numbers of cardiac arrests that happened outside of hospitals, the time it took for help to arrive and the number of patients who survived free of any neurological impairment one year after their heart attack. Further data were collected during a six-month pilot study. The historical cohort of 692 acted as comparisons for the prospective study, which involved 702 similar patients between 2000 and 2002.
A total of 2,186 volunteers and lay people underwent five hours of training that included theory and practical instruction, plus training in basic life support, from 14 qualified instructors. They also attended a three-hour refresher course every six months.
One AED was supplied for every 22,700 of the population, in addition to the existing manually operated defibrillators used by the county's 10 hospitals and five equipped ambulances.
No only were there no reports of complications during the course of the study, the survival rate increased for both rural and urban areas. In the city, survival rose to four per 100 from was just under one and a half persons per 100 in the earlier study. In the rural areas it rose from one per 200 in the earlier study to two and a half per 100 in the study.
The study also found that the additional cost per quality-adjusted life year saved cost less than 24,000 Euro (around 39,000 Euros during the start-up phase). The set-up costs were over one million Euro and the running costs once the system was established were around 681,000 Euro.
Dr Cappato said that the study had proved that defibrillators can easily and safely operated by lay people. He added "This is an unprecedented finding and we hope that our study will serve as a benchmark for more systematic approaches in the future."
Source :
"Prospective assessment of integrating the existing emergency medical system with automated external defibrillators fully operated by volunteers and layperson for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the Brescia Early Defibrillation Study (BEDS)." European Heart Journal (December 2005) doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi654.
Related tips :
Heart disease
Stroke
Tips Of All Sorts is a site loaded with useful tips on health, family, home, garden, beauty and almost anything else possible! Subscribe to the info-packed TIPS Newsletter and go to the TIPS Blog for the latest tips.]
The Brescia Early Defibrillation Study (BEDs) was initiated after the Italian government passed a law allowing the use of AEDs by non-medical and non-paramedical personnel. Brescia is a county in Italy with a large mixed of rural and urban living environment. It has an area of more than 4,800 square kilometres and a population of over one million.
The research was led by Dr. Riccardo Cappato from Policlinico San Donato, University of Milan and colleagues from the University of Brescia and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.
Though the study began in 2000, for a two-year period before that the research team collected data to set the parameters for the study, including the numbers of cardiac arrests that happened outside of hospitals, the time it took for help to arrive and the number of patients who survived free of any neurological impairment one year after their heart attack. Further data were collected during a six-month pilot study. The historical cohort of 692 acted as comparisons for the prospective study, which involved 702 similar patients between 2000 and 2002.
A total of 2,186 volunteers and lay people underwent five hours of training that included theory and practical instruction, plus training in basic life support, from 14 qualified instructors. They also attended a three-hour refresher course every six months.
One AED was supplied for every 22,700 of the population, in addition to the existing manually operated defibrillators used by the county's 10 hospitals and five equipped ambulances.
No only were there no reports of complications during the course of the study, the survival rate increased for both rural and urban areas. In the city, survival rose to four per 100 from was just under one and a half persons per 100 in the earlier study. In the rural areas it rose from one per 200 in the earlier study to two and a half per 100 in the study.
The study also found that the additional cost per quality-adjusted life year saved cost less than 24,000 Euro (around 39,000 Euros during the start-up phase). The set-up costs were over one million Euro and the running costs once the system was established were around 681,000 Euro.
Dr Cappato said that the study had proved that defibrillators can easily and safely operated by lay people. He added "This is an unprecedented finding and we hope that our study will serve as a benchmark for more systematic approaches in the future."
Source :
"Prospective assessment of integrating the existing emergency medical system with automated external defibrillators fully operated by volunteers and layperson for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the Brescia Early Defibrillation Study (BEDS)." European Heart Journal (December 2005) doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi654.
Related tips :
Heart disease
Stroke
Tips Of All Sorts is a site loaded with useful tips on health, family, home, garden, beauty and almost anything else possible! Subscribe to the info-packed TIPS Newsletter and go to the TIPS Blog for the latest tips.]
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