Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)

If you have a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) and happens outside of a hospital environment they say you have a fewer than 1 in 10 chance of surviving, according to the UK Resuscitation Council.

The ambulance service attends to around 30,000 cases each year alone in England and that’s just England, so by adding Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland it will be significantly higher.

In the last year or so we have seen a significant increase in members of the public wanting to learn CPR and how to use an AED (defibrillator) safely and competently. It can make such a difference to someone’s life expectancy if one can be used in the few minutes of someone having a heart attack.

Many businesses have bought AEDs for use on their business sites and they too initially have had their doubts about having them and we share this in another blog we wrote AED and Business.

What is Sudden Cardiac Arrest?

In the majority of cases of Sudden Cardiac Arrest, it is caused by an abnormality in the heart’s electrical rhythm, and this is known as ventricular fibrillation.

This happens when electrical impulses that normally control a natural heart rhythm go chaotic and uncoordinated and then the heart stops beating as it should and the circulation of blood stops too.

For any chance of survival, defibrillation needs to be carried out within the first few minutes of the incident happening. Defibrillation uses a high energy shock to stop the chaotic heart rhythm and restore a normal heart rhythm which in turn gets the circulation moving again.

Chain of Survival

Chain of Survival

As soon as it is recognised that a Serious Cardiac Arrest is happening then an ambulance should be called, then start CPR and use a defibrillator if you have one available, then transfer over to the ambulance crew for advanced medical care and the best possible outcome.

Call 999 to get help
Start CPR
Start defibrillation
Early advanced care

Change in the Law

In 2018 the first reading of The Defibrillators Availability Bill took place and it not only recognises the requirement for public defibrillators (AEDs) in public places but also legislates for awareness and training too.

Since September 2020 this has become a mandatory topic on the National Curriculum in England for youngsters to have learned how to perform CPR and use a defibrillator by the time they leave secondary education.

We have certainly had more teachers on our courses in the last 18 months or so and we feel this is to meet the new requirements in the curriculum.

AEDs are becoming more commonplace in public areas.

If you can get an AED to someone who is having a Sudden Cardiac Arrest within the first 3 minutes they have around 70% survival rate and for every minute that one is not available it is thought the survival rate drops by another 10%.

Doing CPR will bide that person some valuable time whilst an AED if one is available to arrive at the scene. So you can see why having an AED makes a big difference to someone who requires it to get the heart back into normal rhythm.

In the UK AEDs (defibrillators) are becoming more commonplace in public areas, these are kept in slightly heated cabinets because if they are in an exposed position to the elements especially during the winter months. This will protect the lithium battery from degrading so quickly because of the cold, cabinets are kept around 5ºC.

These are fitted into lockable cabinets to prevent theft and tampering, public AEDs are on a database and the ambulance control will tell you where the nearest one is and also give the keylock code so it can be retrieved once you are there.

Are AEDs simple to use?

AEDs are designed to be used safely by any members of the public whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

There are many misconceptions that they can cause more harm than good and so reluctance to use them sets in. When in reality using an AED and performing CPR on a casualty the likelihood of causing harm is very small indeed.

Nevertheless, the concerns are there and so people are reluctant to use AED to help resuscitate someone who they suspect of having a Sudden Cardiac Arrest because they feel a legal claim could be brought against them if it’s thought the rescuer attempts to resuscitate caused them harm.

At this date in time, there have been no reported claims to this effect, sadly this still does not allay the fears of the rescuer though.

How fast do you need to use an AED?

It is said that if an AED is used within the first 3 minutes of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest that person has a survival rate of around 70% and this falls away by around 10% for every minute that defibrillation is delayed.

Very rarely do the emergency services attend quickly enough to perform defibrillation hence the staggering death rate of around 30,000 people a year in England alone each year.

So if a member of the public uses an AED early enough this could save someone’s life.

AEDs have improved substantially since they first started appearing in public places and they are very reliable and will not shock if one is not required.

Once switched on the AED will guide the rescuer by voice prompts through the setup procedure and use.

Where can you learn how to use an AED?

All work-based first aid training courses have mandatory training on using an AED since 2016, also many providers have standalone courses on how to use an AED too.

We have 1 trainer AED per person on our first aid courses and our learners learn how to use them safely, but also learn simple fault-finding with an AED too.

Warwickshire First Training has been including AED (Defibrillator) training as standard on all of our first aid courses since 2016 because they can make such a difference if someone is having a serious cardiac arrest.

Conclusion.

With over 30,000 lives lost in England alone each year with Sudden Cardiac Arrest, an AED can make all the difference to someone who is having a really bad day.

You do NOT need any professional training to use an AED because they are designed to be used by anyone, you could really make that difference, wouldn’t you like someone to give you every chance of survival if it was you who was having a bad day.