Why YSK: TV has lied to you. If a cardiac arrest happens and you have an AED defibrillator at hand you might still need to do chest compressions.
- When you open up the AED there will be instructions on how to apply the electrodes as well as any other procedure needed to get started.
- The machine will first analyze the heart’s rhythm to find out if a shock can restore the heart.
- If the machine doesn’t find anything it will instruct you to perform CPR. After a while it will then instruct you to stand by as it does another analysis.
- It will once again either deliver a shock or instruct you to go back to CPR. Do this routine indefinitely until medical services has arrived. You will be tired. Switch out with another person if there are other people who can help.
- Some AED’s are automatic and will warn you to stand back and deliver a shock. Others will need you to press a button to deliver the shock yourself. Make sure not to touch the person as the machine delivers the shock.
For those curious about what a defibrillator does do: It stops hearts.
Which might seem insanely counterintuitive, but it’s great for when the heart gets stuck in a rhythm that prevents it from being able to pump properly, since stopping it lets it restart itself in a more normal rhythm.
Before we invented the defibrillator, doctors basically had to punch the patient in the chest to hopefully hit the heart at the right point to stop it. It does also mean that if you really know what you’re doing, and got lucky with the timing/amount of force, you could technically pull off one of Kill Bill’s death punches, although it would be a little less dramatic than them walking five steps before their heart explodes.
But unlike video games, unless you fry the heart itself, a defibrillator won’t instantly kill someone. It will stop their heart, sure, but their heart will restart itself, unless something is wrong (stopped for too long, physical damage, irreversible chemical imbalance, etc)