Whats the difference between an AED and the defibrillators used in hospitals?
AEDs are similar to defibrillators used in hospitals in that they provide electricity to restart the heart. The AED does an automatic analysis of the rhythm and advises the user what to do. In the hospital, the doctor interprets the rhythm on a monitor on the defibrillator and makes a decision as to whether to shock or not and with how much energy to shock with. The AED takes all the medical decision making away, and allows a lay person bystander the opportunity to help a victim of sudden cardiac arrest.
In-hospital defibrillators are manual, larger than AEDs, and designed to be used only by qualified medical personnel with special training to use the device and to recognize heart rhythms. Medical personnel who use the device must decide whether or not to shock the person. Manual defibrillators also have additional capabilities such as pacing and cardioversion. AEDs are programmed to recognize different heart rhythms and to make the shock/no shock decision, so that users don’t have to. They were designed so that lifesaving defibrillation could be performed as quickly as possible.
