Research
Minimal instructions improve the performance of laypersons in the use of semiautomatic and automatic external defibrillators
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* Corresponding author: Stefan Beckers sbeckers@ukaachen.de
Critical Care 2005, 9:R110-R116 doi:10.1186/cc3033
See related commentary http://ccforum.com/content/9/2/147
Should the results of the study be implemented in the real situations?
Andrej Zmavc (2005-03-03 14:21) Community health care center Celje / Prehospital emergency medicine
The study is very interesting but it has some important limitations at real life situations as well.
Firstly - the medical students are definitely not representative for the general population (understanding the problem, interest and attitudes, etc.).
Secondly - although the times to the first defibrillation, presented in the study, were surprisingly short, this tells us nothing about the most important issue in sudden cardiac arrest victims - prompt and effective chest compressions.
Lastly - before implementing a defibrillator one (a lay person) must identify and recognize cardiac arrest and get the device. This usually takes a few minutes. Do we speak about very early defibrillation then?
Competing interests
None declared
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