DALLAS — School-based AED programs have a high rate of survival for students and others on school grounds.

Researchers found that 83 percent of 1,710 U.S. high schools with AED programs that they studied had an established emergency response plan for sudden cardiac arrest. However, only 40 percent practiced and reviewed their plans at least annually with potential school responders.

 Of 36 cases of sudden cardiac arrests at the 1,710 schools:

    * 94 percent received bystander CPR,

    * 83 percent received an AED shock and

    * 64 percent survived to hospital discharge including 9 of 14 student athletes and 14 of 22 non students.

Three factors — prompt recognition of sudden cardiac arrest, the presence of a trained rescuer to initiate CPR and access to early defibrillation through on-site AEDs — are critical to improving survival from sudden cardiac arrest in schools, said Jonathan A. Drezner, M.D., lead author of the study and associate professor and team physician in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington-Seattle.

It is not just about the AEDs — schools must have a comprehensive emergency response plan for sudden cardiac arrest that includes training anticipated responders in CPR and AED use, access to an AED, and practice and review of the response plan,” Drezner said.

“It is crucial to recognize that AEDs permit early defibrillation not only in young athletes but also in other individuals who may experience an unexpected sudden cardiac arrest. We found that more than half of sudden cardiac arrest events reported in schools occur in adults working at the school or attending a school event. Schools are a strategic location for AED programs to serve large concentrations of people at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.”

In an accompanying editorial, Dianne L. Atkins, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Iowa, wrote that the study demonstrates that the mere presence of an AED in the general area of an arrest does not guarantee success. Successful AED programs require immediate bystander CPR and non-equipment components in addition to AED-availability, she said.

“The need for ongoing CPR training, fully-developed and executed emergency plans and links to EMS are vital to the immediate and long-term outcomes of shock delivery,” Atkins wrote.

U.S. High School Study Highlights

• Placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools can save the lives of student-athletes and non-students who suffer sudden cardiac arrest on school grounds
• Schools need a response plan along with the lifesaving equipment.

SOURCE: Adapted from American Heart Association press release