Successful automatic external defibrillator operation by people trained only in basic life support in a simulated cardiac arrest situation.

Abstract

To show whether in an in-hospital cardiac arrest, early defibrillation can also be performed by hospital staff trained only in basic life support. The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) endorses the concept that in many settings non-medical individuals should be allowed and encouraged to use defibrillators. Five different groups of hospital staff were evaluated whether they were able to correctly operate an automatic external defibrillator in a simulated sudden cardiac arrest situation without any prior instruction. The participants were assigned either to the 'basic life support-trained' group (BLS, n = 40, or to the 'advanced life support-trained' group (ALS, n = 40). All persons of the 'only BLS-trained' group delivered the three sequential ('stacked') shocks with the automatic external defibrillator when persistent ventricular fibrillation was simulated. The 'ALS-trained' persons successfully delivered the three shocks with the automatic external defibrillator in 98% of the cases. When this group used a conventional defibrillator, only 88% were able to deliver the three shocks, however they were able to do it significantly more quickly. Using an automatic defibrillator without any prior instruction, even persons trained only in BLS were able to deliver three sequential shocks in a simulated persistent ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest.