An Automated External Defibrillator is a medical equipment that was once restricted to hospitals and medical facilities, but due to its significance and advancement in technology, this medical device is now available in numerous public places, like, malls, airports etc..
An AED equipment saves lives by providing instant support to the heart patients that suffer from a cardiac arrest. According to a report, nearly 10000 people lose life from experiencing cardiac arrest at public places. These people do not reach the hospital in time and as a result, they lose their life. AED at public places has thus saved thousands of lives by providing instant treatment to anyone experiencing cardiac arrest.
Due to its significance, AED needs to be available in nearly every workplace. But, there are some important aspects that one needs to consider before getting AED. Let’s go through these important aspects.
State’s regulations
This is the first thing you need to check before getting Automated External Defibrillator for your workplace. Many states require physician’s prescription for getting AED and you cannot just go and buy one from the market. For this reason, it is important to check with your state’s regulations (if any) regarding AED. Since it is quite common in public places and the advancement in technology has enabled it to be used by a layman, it is more likely that it does not require any special permission. Nevertheless, you should first check with your state’s laws and regulations regarding AED in a workplace.
Maintenance
Just like before buying a new car, you check its maintenance requirement, you need to check the AED’s maintenance requirements as well. An AED would require weekly or monthly visual inspection, especially for the electrodes that expire after a defined period. You can find detail about the maintenance interval and the level of maintenance the equipment needs after defined intervals, from the manufacturer’s manual.
An AED saves lives and there’s no room for any negligence in its maintenance so make sure you can follow the defined intervals before getting one. Once you’ve gotten AED for your workplace, you also need to regularly check for software updates of the device. Many manufacturers offer frequent updates to make the device more efficient and user-friendly.
User-friendly
You won’t have a medical department in your office that is qualified and trained to operate AED. So, do you need to hire doctors for this? Absolutely not. Automated External Defibrillator have been developed to be used by layman by simply following the instructions on the manual. This is done to make sure the person suffering from cardiac arrest does not face any delay in receiving treatment and anyone should be able to read the instructions and carry out the procedure to provide instant treatment to the patient.
However, it is highly recommended that the staff is trained to a basic level to be able to operate the device the right way, without reading the instructions. This will save plenty of time and also, it will ensure that every member of your office team is capable of operating the device. For this purpose, it is important that you pick AED that is easy to operate. If you get your staff trained for the use of AED, it will also define the health considerations of your office and will certainly benefit you in other ways.
Location
The location in your office. This is something most office owners tend to overlook deciding and the results aren’t pleasant. It is very important that you carefully decide the location of AED in your office. It should be somewhere accessible to every employee. Every one working in the office should know about AED’s location in the office; even the employees that are not trained in the usage of AED. The employees should be able to retrieve it easily and in no time, since every second matters if someone faces cardiac arrest.
If, for some reason, the location of the AED is changed, all the employees should be well-informed of this and the new location. The employees need to be communicated about the change in location quickly. Basically, it should be ensured that every employee knows the exact location of AED at all times and also knows the quickest means to access it.
