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Tracey: All of our Lifepaks are also 20's except in areas where they seldom would use them or areas that don't have AED as a recommendation (Special Care Nursery). Because of the national numbers of people, other than patients, who have received the discharge (usually because someone does not hear the clear call), we have placed all the Lifepaks in the AED mode with the "hands-free" pads. If the physician who responds insists on using paddles instead of Hands-free, it takes them time to change over. This was an issue when we first started, but one of the Docs didn't hear the call and still had has fingers on the patient(and he got the shock). Once that story got around, the rest of them pretty much use the hands-free, even in the EP lab. It has made a world of difference for the M/S staff too. They were never that comfortable starting anything but CPR because they didn't do it often enough. Now the machine tells them what to do, all they have to do is CPR, put on pads and follow directions. It has improved the response time to first defibrillation immensely. Once the ACLS people arrive they open out of AED mode and go to manual method (still with the hands-free). The paddles are still there in case someone insists on using them but face it, if the rhythm changes to something that needs paced, you could be wasting valuable time switching over. Hope this helps. Debbie
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Debbie Haswell,RN, PhD | OLP Consultant | Organizational Learning and Performance Hillcrest Hospital|6780 Mayfield Road|Mayfield Hts.,OH 44124 (440) 312-2196 Pager (216) 464-8410 #50075 Fax (440) 312-2861 dhaswell@... |
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