During in-hospital cardiac arrest, automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are generally used initially by the ward staff after which a specialized cardiac arrest team will use a manual defibrillator. However, the impact of using AEDs or manual defibrillators during in-hospital cardiac arrest is unknown.

During his international research stay at the Research Center for Emergency Medicine, Moritz Nettinger from Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria, investigated this question together with Johannes Wittig, Dung N. Riis, Bo Løfgren, and Kasper G. Lauridsen.

By using data from AEDs and manual defibrillators from the Central Denmark Region, the researchers found out that

• There was no difference in the accuracy of rhythm analyses between manual defibrillators and AEDs

• Use of manual defibrillators was associated with significantly shorter chest compression pauses for rhythm analyses and defibrillation as compared to AEDs

Overall, the study supports the use of AEDs during the initial phase of in-hospital cardiac arrest.

The study is published in Resuscitation and can be read freely here: https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/.../S0300.../fulltext