Buying a Defibrillator

A person’s chance of survival can decrease by 10% for every minute that defibrillation is delayed. Currently around 8% of people survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the UK. The easiest way to improve this is to train more people in effective CPR and making a defibrillator easily accessible. Here are some points to consider when looking to buy a public access defibrillator.

Price is important, but if you’re using the defibrillator as part of first response team or carrying out event first aid for example there’s a higher chance of you needing to replace the pads and battery more often than if your automated external defibrillator (AED) is for an office. Therefore, the cost of consumables may be more important and the shelf life of the consumables less important. It’s also worth noting that prices change especially in the current climate. To help we have produced a device comparison table, this includes both manufacturers recommended retail prices and the prices from our website.

An automatic AED will help to restore the heart back to its normal rhythm after a person has suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) automatically delivering a shock to the casualty once it has scanned the heart rhythm. This means that no-one needs to press a button to deliver a shock – the life saving device will simply announce that a shock is to be given, to stand clear and the shock will be given. In a quiet environment, with people who aren’t familiar with the use AEDs, this could mean a shock is delivered quickly and there can be no hesitation of bystanders to press the shock button. However, if the area is noisy, meaning these instructions aren’t heard, there’s a greater chance of bystanders being in contact with the casualty when the shock is administered.  Semi-automatic AEDs require someone to press a button to administer the shock. There is the potential this this could mean a shock is delayed.  Which is best – fully automatic or semi-automatic? With correct training, there’s no reason why a semi-automatic AED should mean a shock is delivered any more slowly than a fully automatic AED. As they can also potentially be safer – many people may choose to buy a semi-automatic AED instead of a fully automatic one. Most AEDs are available in either option.

IP rating stands for Ingress Protection. So, this rating tells you how much protection your AED has against dust and water ingress for example. How important this will be to your AED decision making process will probably depend on your environment. If you’re purchasing an AED for a scuba diving school – which will be being moved around on boats, sandy beaches etc. – then the IP rating is going to be really important to you. If you work in a specifically dusty environment – again, a good IP rating will be important to you. If your AED is going to be used in a gym or office, a good IP rating is going to be less important – but may still be useful if the casualty is in the company car park on a rainy day for example. IP ratings include two numbers. The higher each number, the higher the protection: The first number relates to dust ingress protection. The scale goes from 0-6. 0 would mean no specific dust protection. Something with a rating of 6 is completely dust tight. The second number relates to water ingress protection. The scale goes from 0-8. 0 would mean no specific water protection. Something with a rating of 8 is watertight and can be submerged in water. It’s worth noting that, where an ‘X’ features instead of a number, the AED hasn’t been specifically tested for that type of ingress protection.

If your AED is going to sit in a cabinet and only be removed if needed, the size and weight of the unit is unlikely to be important. However, if you’re purchasing one as a football coach or for a rapid response team, these things are going to make a huge difference.

An AED with CPR coaching can help the responder through CPR. At one end of the scale this may be a simple metronome, featuring a flashing light or beep to help the responder keep the correct rate of compressions. At the other end of the scale, this can be a series of verbal prompts, offering advice on depth and recoil of compressions, as well as speed. To the occasional user or First Aider, this may be beneficial, whereas a seasoned responder may not require this.

It makes sense to get an AED with the longest warranty possible. Not only does this inspire confidence in the build quality of the product but reduces cost of any replacement. Most AED’s have an 8 year warranty, the Rescue Same defibrillator comes with a 10 year warranty.

For the occasional user, getting an AED with a long battery shelf life can save you money and minimise the hassle of having to change batteries. Some AEDs, such as those from Zoll accept shop bought camera batteries – offering a significant saving over AED specific batteries.

The price and shelf life of consumables such as electrode pads may be important. Pads are single use and so need to be replaced once used. However, the pads also have a shelf life and go out of date. This is usually down to the conductive gel breaking down on the pads – which make them less effective. Pad life and replacement cost is certainly worth taking into account.  Some AEDs need separate pads for children and adults, while other AEDs use the same pads for both with a selector on the AED itself to choose between child mode and adult mode. Clearly, if children are never going to come into contact with your workplace – i.e. you’re looking for an AED for an offshore wind farm or an oil rig, having adult pads would probably be fine. If you’re looking for an AED for a school however, it would make sense to have either an AED with pads that can be used on both adults and children, or two sets of pads would need to be purchased. Remember, pads have a shelf life and throwing away and replacing two sets of pads each time is likely to cost more in the long run.