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Ordinary People Save Lives with Defibrillators

October 2002

Summarized by Cheryl Runyon

Several recent studies have examined the usefulness and effectiveness of automated defibrillators when used by trained staff such as flight attendants and casino employees. A Chicago study how found, however, that untrained passersby also can use the equipment to save lives.

As reported in the Oct. 17, 2002, issue of New England Journal of Medicine, four-pound defibrillators were distributed in glass cabinets throughout the O'Hare, Midway and Meigs Field airports in Chicago, Illinois. The defibrillators, about the size of a toaster, have written and recorded instructions. During the two-year study, someone attempted to use the machines in each of 18 witnessed cases of fibrillating cardiac arrest. Eleven victims were revived; six of the primary rescuers were passersby. To link to the article,

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/347/16/1242.

For more information, link to Public Access to Defibrillators, NCSL LegisBrief, 10, no. 31, by Cheryl Runyon and Kae Warnock and the NCSL automatic external defibrillator Web page, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/aed.htm

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