Public defibrillators are not the best way to improve survival

Defibrillators for use by the public have less impact on survival than other interventions, yet the Department of Health is providing 700 public access defibrillators in 72 sites across England. Pell and colleagues (p 515) used data from the Scottish Ambulance Service and hospital records to model the potential impact of public access defibrillators on survival after cardiopulmonary arrest outside hospital. They show that 79% of arrests occurred in sites unsuitable for public access defibrillators. Extending "first responder" defibrillation to police and firefighters and encouraging bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation would, they argue, be a better strategy.

(Credit: AP PHOTO/CHARLIE BENNETT)

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Relevant Article

Potential impact of public access defibrillators on survival after out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest: retrospective cohort study

Jill P Pell, Jane M Sirel, Andrew K Marsden, Ian Ford, Nicola L Walker, and Stuart M Cobbe
BMJ 2002 325: 515. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]