Low Blood sugar

[NomadicMedic]

An AED cannot tell the difference in VT and pulseless VT. It assumes pulseless because it was applied and turned on. An AED is only supposed to recommend a shock for VF and VT situations. If it sees anything else, it's supposed to basically say "no shock advised" and "check pulse" and otherwise do nothing. So if you apply it to a patient that's got a HR in the 180's but has a narrow QRS (think SVT not VT), the AED will not advise a shock. People are the first fail-safe. You only apply the AED to someone that's pulseless. After that, the programming knows to look only for VF or VT.

As an aside, AED manufacturers are aware that misuse will occur, "Public access AEDs will be used by minimally trained personnel. The potential for misuse is high: use of AEDs is inappropriate in persons who are conscious and breathing or persons who are in true cardiac arrest but are receiving artifact-generating cardiopulmonary resuscitation during analysis of the rhythm." (http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/95/6/1677.full)

They build high specificity requirements in the the shockable rhythm algorithm and all AEDs will dump the charge if a non shockable rhythm is detected. An unconscious person in NSR or sinus brady won't get shocked and a patient with a rate of 140 wouldn't get shocked either.

While it's an interesting hypothetical, how would a patient who presents with:

o2 94% pulse 140 weak bp 88/80

ever receive CPR? It's really a non issue.

 

[Tigger]

An AED cannot tell the difference in VT and pulseless VT. It assumes pulseless because it was applied and turned on. An AED is only supposed to recommend a shock for VF and VT situations. If it sees anything else, it's supposed to basically say "no shock advised" and "check pulse" and otherwise do nothing. So if you apply it to a patient that's got a HR in the 180's but has a narrow QRS (think SVT not VT), the AED will not advise a shock. People are the first fail-safe. You only apply the AED to someone that's pulseless. After that, the programming knows to look only for VF or VT.

http://www.jems.com/articles/print/...ads-nurse-to-shock-concious-boy-with-aed.html

Of note, though it's not the clearest article.