Monday, September 12, 2011

More than 1,000 deaths linked to AED failures in 15 years

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44364504/ns/health-health_care/t/bad-batteries-defibrillators-tied-cardiac-deaths/#.Tm4YVE-Ib60

Source information came from:  Annals of Emergency Medicine.
http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644%2811%2901338-2/abstract

The conclusion states: "MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Device Experience) is often incomplete and frequently no corroborating data are available. Some conditions not detected by automated external defibrillators during self-test cause units to power off unexpectedly, causing defibrillation delays."

Seems that there needs to be both:
a.  better testing of the software and total system; and
b.  better system state logging so that effective root cause analysis can occur.

Can you image this kind of problem existing and being tolerated with the flight data recorders recovered from airplane crashes?

2 comments:

  1. CPR and AED certification are must haves when it comes to any sort of first aid training. There should be AED machines available in every public place.

    ReplyDelete