J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  1997 Dec;8(4):505-512.

Training Nurses, Trainee for Emergency Medical Technitinan, and Firefighters to use Automated External Defibrillator

• Lee KH
• Hwang SO
• Lee JW
• Lim JC
• Kim H
• Kang GH
• Kim SW
• Lee BS
• Kim OJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Automated external defibrillator(AED) represent a major breakdown to permit more widespread application of the principle of early defibrillation. Many recent efforts to improve emergency medical services(EMS) and increase survival rates are simply efforts to get defibrillation to patients as rapidly as possible. AED is major innovation for the prehospital care of ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the course of initial training to three different groups(nurses, firefighters, and EMT trainee) to use AED. METHOD: We studies the efficacy of education of AED to 33 nurses, 15 EMT trainee, and 16 firefighters. Training lasted 75 mins and included 45 mins an overview of defibrillation, protocols for using the AED, and operation of the AED(Laerdal Heartstart 3000),15 mins demonstraion.4 check list was used to grade the performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, operation of the AED, and the time required to deliver the first three defibrillations. RESULT: There were no statistically significant differences in performance and time required to deliver an electrical countershock among the groups(p=0.4). To the second test 92fo of all group completed all steps successfully. The step most often foiled was the preparing of the AED for defibrillation.
CONCLUSION
In nurses, EMT trainee, and firefighters, it is both feasible and effective to train AED use irrespective of the degree of the trainee.

MeSH Terms

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Defibrillators*
Education
Emergencies*
Firefighters*
Heart Arrest
Humans
Survival Rate
Ventricular Fibrillation