AEDs in Schools Prove Effective

Public high schools have to have AED's in Michigan. All teachers must have CPR/AED/FA before being licensed here as well. Not all have to maintain the certifications however.
 
Glad to hear someone mention Commotio Cordis... a lot of providers are not aware of it. I wrote an article on this condition that was published in a regional EMS news publication. Google it if not familiar.
 
Glad to hear someone mention Commotio Cordis... a lot of providers are not aware of it. I wrote an article on this condition that was published in a regional EMS news publication. Google it if not familiar.

Commotio..latin for commotion ! I finally get to use the latin I took in high school.
 
Glad to hear someone mention Commotio Cordis... a lot of providers are not aware of it. I wrote an article on this condition that was published in a regional EMS news publication. Google it if not familiar.

I surprised it's not more known. It seems like every year or two there's a news story of some kid getting kicked in the chest in karate or taking a fast ball to the chest and going into cardiac arrest. It's uncommon enough to make the news, but common enough that I can remember hearing more than one story about it on the nightly news.
 
When I was researching for the article I was impressed by the frequency of Commotio Cordis... while not an everyday occurrence it does happen with enough frequency that ALL schools and athletic events should have an AED at the sideline.

With Comotio Cordis, a normally healthy heart is arrested due to the split second impact to the chest that disrupts the electrical activity of the heart throwing the child into vfib more times than not. There is no morphologic change to the heart itself... it is solely an electrical disturbance from the blow to the chest. Because of this, with immediate CPR and immediate defibrillation, these kids have a very good chance of having a ROSC with no neurological deficits.
 
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I took Tae Kwon Do for almost 10 years, I remember a few times seeing perfectly healty kids getting chest pains after a good fight. Not sure if it was this, but I do remember some kid going unconscious at a state tournament once, the paramedics came and did CPR. Could've been a lot of things though.
 
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