Defibrillators explained

Purpose

What it is for

“Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are automated devices that are used during a cardiac arrest to shock the patient’s heart back into normal function.”

Ambulance Victoria, find an AED

healthdirect describes an AED as using electricity to restart the heart, and says it should be used as soon as possible. It is used for sudden cardiac arrest, which healthdirect describes as the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stopping pumping. The Queensland Ambulance Service puts the stakes simply: defibrillators can help save a person’s life when they are in cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest is not a heart attack

NSW Health draws the line plainly. Cardiac arrest is “the sudden loss of heart function”: the heart is no longer pumping blood and oxygen around to the body’s vital organs. In a heart attack, by contrast, the person is awake and has symptoms. For both, NSW Health’s advice is the same: call Triple Zero (000) immediately for an ambulance.

Time

Why minutes count

The three figures come from three services and measure different things, so they sit side by side here and are not added up or compared. What they share is NSW Health’s point: for every minute after a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival falls, and quick action could save a life.

Users

Who can use one

Anyone. healthdirect says you do not need to be trained to use an AED, and that it guides you with voice prompts on how to use it safely. The Queensland Ambulance Service says no training or medical knowledge is needed: when you turn it on, it gives prompts you can hear and see. Victoria’s compliance code says the same for workplaces: anyone can use an AED on someone suspected of being in cardiac arrest by following its voice prompts and pictures, and training is not required.

The AED is half of the job. NSW Health says defibrillators must be used in conjunction with CPR, and healthdirect calls CPR a skill that everyone can learn.

The two do different work. What CPR involves is on healthdirect’s page on how to perform CPR; the AED’s part, in healthdirect’s words, is to use electricity to restart the heart.

Safety

What it will not do

NSW Health is direct about the fear of doing harm: “You cannot hurt someone by using a defibrillator.” It adds that a defibrillator only shocks a person who is in cardiac arrest, and the Queensland Ambulance Service says a defibrillator cannot shock someone whose heartbeat is normal.

healthdirect’s AED steps give the rule about touching: keep the area around the person clear, and do not touch the person while the AED is in use, because it could interfere with how the AED reads their heart. Every step is on the sheet for using a defibrillator.

Children

Children and babies

• Children older than 8 can have a standard adult AED and adult pads.
• For children under 8, the ideal is children’s (paediatric) pads and an AED that has a children’s setting; if these are not available, healthdirect says to use the adult AED.
• For a baby under 1 year, the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network says: “In most cases, it is unlikely that you will need to use a defibrillator or Automated defibrillator on an infant.” The Australian Resuscitation Council’s guideline on defibrillation covers infants too; read it there.

AED registers

Where the nearest one is

Three of this sheet’s sources describe registers that link AEDs to the people who need them. Ambulance Victoria keeps an AED registry, with locations provided by AED owners. In South Australia, SA Health says Triple Zero (000) call-takers use the state register to point a caller in a cardiac emergency to the nearest AED. The Queensland Ambulance Service says that if an AED is registered with it, it can tell a caller about a suspected cardiac arrest where the AED is at that business or property.

How registering works, and where an AED should hang, is on the sheet for defibrillators in public places.