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7 AED
7.1 AED Safety Information
• Defibrillation current can cause operator or bystander severe injury or even death. Never touch the
patient or any metal objects connected to the patient (including the bed or gurney) during
defibrillation.
• Avoid contact between parts of the patient’s body such as exposed skin of head or limbs, conductive
fluids such as gel, blood, or saline, and metal objects such as a bed frame or a stretcher which may
provide unwanted pathways for the defibrillating current.
• Do not allow electrode pads to touch each other or to touch other ECG monitoring electrodes, lead
wires, dressings, etc. Contact with metal objects may cause electrical arcing and patient skin burns
during defibrillation and may divert current away from the heart.
• During defibrillation, air pockets between the skin and electrode pads can cause patient skin burns.
To help prevent air pockets, make sure electrode pads are completely adhered to the skin.
• Do not use dried-out electrode pads.
• Aggressive handling of electrode pads in storage or prior to use can damage the electrode pads.
Discard the electrode pads if they become damaged.
• For patients with implantable pacemaker, the sensitivity and specificity of AED algorithm may be
impaired.
• Successful resuscitation is dependent on many variables specific to the patient’s physiological state
and the circumstances surrounding the patient event. Failure to have a successful patient outcome is
not a reliable indicator of equipment performance. The presence or absence of a muscular response
to the transfer of energy during electrical therapy is not a reliable indicator of energy delivery or
equipment performance.
7.2 AED Procedure
• Anterior - lateral placement for adult patients, and anterior-posterior placement for pediatric
patients are recommended placements for defibrillation with electrode pads.
• For defibrillation of pediatric patients under 8 years, pediatric electrode pads should be used.
• If pediatric electrode pads are not available, the adult electrode pads may be used instead, and set
the patient category to [Ped].
• Motion artifact may delay analysis or affect the ECG signal resulting in an inappropriate shock or no
shock advised message. Keep the patient still during ECG rhythm analysis.
• The Shock button must be pressed to deliver a shock. The equipment will not automatically deliver a
shock.
• Impedance is the resistance between the electrode pads/external paddles that the defibrillator must
overcome to deliver an effective discharge of energy. The degree of impedance differs from patient
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