defibulator

robotrobo

hi.
We have a fairly large family , and i am thinking of buying a defibulator just in case we should ever require one in a emergency.
Has anyone had thoughts on doing the same?, or even have you purchased one?, if so could you please reccomend one for me , and any thoughts on my proposal , good, or bad,
thankyou

LEJC

whats the chances of you needing one...and as such do you intend carrying it everywhere with you....


I was always under the impression that you do need a certain level of training to use one and its only going to help in a small proportion of occurances.


When used properly they can indeed save lives but I have to say buying one on the off chance of actually needing it does seem a little excessive to me

PenguinJim

From £700. Keep it in the car boot so you'll have it at home and when you're out and about. If your doctor(s) have advised you and your family that you have an increased chance of cardiac arrest, then it's possible it may be useful one day.

Just bear in mind that they are not used in Reality in the same way they are on TV and in movies. They do not restart hearts that have stopped beating. They do not bring people back from the dead. They should not be used to exterminate all the koi in your neighbour's pond.

CH27

PenguinJim wrote: »

From £700. Keep it in the car boot so you'll have it at home and when you're out and about. If your doctor(s) have advised you and your family that you have an increased chance of cardiac arrest, then it's possible it may be useful one day.

Just bear in mind that they are not used in Reality in the same way they are on TV and in movies. They do not restart hearts that have stopped beating. They do not bring people back from the dead. They should not be used to exterminate all the koi in your neighbour's pond.

:rotfl: :rotfl:

gingerdad

if you have an increased risk maybe worth while, but there is a growing number of community ones around so if you call 999 they'll direct you to one close to you.

minimum training needed to use fairly idiot proof

System

They do not restart hearts that have stopped beating

Oh yes they do, I've seen it first hand with somebody who had a major heart attack. A medic using one of the emergency defibrillators that are held in shops etc for such emergencies. It kept him alive until the paramedics arrived.

dandelionclock30

Looks like its Dr Quinn here.

PenguinJim

!!!!!! wrote: »

Oh yes they do, I've seen it first hand with somebody who had a major heart attack. A medic using one of the emergency defibrillators that are held in shops etc for such emergencies. It kept him alive until the paramedics arrived.

They were using the defibrillator to reset that person's heart rhythm - not to restart a stopped heart. In your example, that person's heart still had a rhythm, albeit one that was not capable of sustaining circulation.

A stopped heart can be restarted through chest compressions, but if you're using electricity on someone with a stopped heart, the technical term is "barbecuing" - in which case, please pre-cook your patient.

Taggo

AED's are very easy to use but there are things you have to be aware of when using them so a training course would be necessary in my opinion.

Though where do you draw the line in what you get for your family.

That's really up to yourself, I'd advise if you haven't already done so take a basic life support course, and retake it every few years.

System

PenguinJim wrote: »

They were using the defibrillator to reset that person's heart rhythm - not to restart a stopped heart. In your example, that person's heart still had a rhythm, albeit one that was not capable of sustaining circulation.

A stopped heart can be restarted through chest compressions, but if you're using electricity on someone with a stopped heart, the technical term is "barbecuing" - in which case, please pre-cook your patient.

Thank you for that. Maybe I didn't explain very well. The public perception of a heart attack is that the heart stops, but it is more normally the case that the heart doesn't actually stop but goes into fibrillation.

The community defibrillators, I believe, are set up to NOT shock if there is zero heartbeat and some actually instruct the user to attempt CPR in these situations

Person_one

They're pretty idiot proof. You turn them on and a voice tells you exactly what to do. You can't do any harm with them because the machine won't deliver a shock unless it's needed.

You do need to know how to do CPR though, and that's the more important thing if somebody arrests. A defibrillator isn't a magic fix.