An Airline Cardiac Arrest Program

摘要: Background As many as 1000 lives are lost annually from cardiac arrest in commercial aircraft. Ventricular fibrillation (VF), the most common mechanism, can be treated effectively only with prompt defibrillation, whereas current policy of airlines is to continue cardiopulmonary resuscitation pending aircraft diversion. The objective this study was assess impact making semiautomatic external defibrillators (AEDs) available for use on airline passengers arrest. Methods and Results AEDs were installed international Qantas at major terminals, selected crew trained their use, all members resuscitation. Supervision provided by medical volunteers or (remotely) physicians. During a 64-month period, used 109 occasions: 63 times monitoring an acutely ill passenger 46 Twenty-seven episodes occurred aircraft, often (11 27 [41%]) unwit...