Defibrillators are devices that are used to send electricity to the heart of a person to reset the heart to a normal pattern under abnormal heart conditions. Defibrillators are used by the medical community and by trained laymen outside of the hospital environment.
Function
Defibrillators use an electrical current to reset the heart's contractions to a normal beat during abnormal heart conditions, such as during cardiac arrest.
Types
There are different types of defibrillators: external and internal. Automated external defibrillators are the most common type of defibrillators that are seen in public places.
Benefits
According to the American Red Cross, 60,000 of the 300,000 sudden cardiac arrest deaths in America could have been prevented with a properly trained individual using a defibrillator.
Warning
Four percent of the people who have implanted defibrillators have had complications, such as blood clots or the movement of the cable that connects the defibrillator to the heart.
Prevention/Solution
AEDs avoid sending excessive and unnecessary electrical currents to a patient's heart by detecting the person's heart beat and making sure it is at a rhythm that requires an electrical shock to improve.
Tags: abnormal heart, abnormal heart conditions, cardiac arrest, heart conditions, reset heart