AED/CPR Training

Sudden cardiac arrest happens to over 250,000 people a year. Every 33 seconds in the United States, someone dies due to a heart-related incident. The survival rate can be as high as 60 percent in ideal circumstances, the most important of which is quick defibrillation. In order for the patient to have the best chance of survival during an outside of hospital cardiac arrest, someone must call for emergency medical assistance (911 in North America), perform CPR - which is an acronym for Cardio (heart), Pulmonary (lung) and Resuscitation (meaning to revive or revitalize) - and use an AED, before receiving pre-hospital advanced care.

Here are the general steps of using an AED but this does NOT mean you are certified. Contact us to come out to your place of employment to get you and your staff CPR and AED certified today!

1. Look around your immediate area for an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).
2. If you cannot locate an AED, proceed with CPR. You should instruct bystanders to call emergency services and search for an AED. Staff members in public places such as railway stations or airports will be able to provide instructions and alert any emergency response units or first aid teams that may be present to assist with CPR and Defibrillation.
3. Turn on the AED unit. Depending on the model of the AED you may have to pull a handle or push the on button.
4. Remove all clothing from the chest, abdomen, and arms (male or female)
5. Peel the pads off and place them exactly as instructed. Accuracy is more important than speed when placing pads.
6. Usually the AED will start to immediately analyze the patient's heart rhythm. If it does not, you might have to push the analyze button. Do not touch the patient during this or any other part of the defibrillation process.
7. If the AED has a shock advised prompt, push the button. When you shock, make sure no one is touching the patient. Also, the patient must not be touching metal and there must not be large amounts of water on the chest (sweat is okay). The patient must not be wearing a nitro patch. If the patient has a pacemaker, try not to place the pads directly on the unit.

The AED will shock up to 3 times. Usually one shock is needed. Newer AEDs following recent guidelines will shock only once on the highest energy setting, after which they should prompt you to immediately perform two minutes of CPR.

Some pulse-less heart rhythms cannot be treated by defibrillation. If the AED does not advise a shock, check the pulse, and if there is none, continue CPR.

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