What Do You Look For When Buying An AED For Your Workplace?
I'm just doing a little research to see what everyone looks for when buying an AED? We conduct hundreds of CPR/AED courses each year, with all of our staff being either EMTs or Paramedics, so we see a wide variety of AEDs being used by companies across the US.
What is your top deciding factor when purchasing an AED?
- Is it price? If so, they essentially all do the same thing (they all look for the same 2 shockable rhythms, shock with about the same amount of joules, etc.).
- Is it the ease of use? If so, how do you verify this prior to purchasing? Do you look for certain features?
- Is it the ability to provide real-time feedback? There are currently 2 AEDs available that do this that I'm aware of (Zoll AED Plus and Cardiac Science Powerheart G5).
- Is it the ability to perform compressions during the "analysis" phase (which reduces interruptions and maintains higher blood pressure)? The LifePak CR2 is the only one that does this to the best of my knowledge.
- Other factors?
Would love to hear your feedback on this!
Comments (14)
I haven't had to purchase one in years, but the last time I did, I was pretty inexperienced. What I looked for was expert advice from a trusted vendor; it wasn't something I shopped for through a catalog.
After pitching the need to my boss at the time (part owner of the company) - cost was a huge deciding factor.
we got Phillips and one Zoll in a remote location, they are all the same, some more automated than others. You can't adjust the joules unless you have special unit that would let you and are cert as a paramedic.
Anyways, go with the most user friendly, I love the idea of minimizing interruptions between compressions, I didn't know that about the CR2, that's pretty cool.
We have the Zoll AED Plus
I'm not 100% certain on all of the factors considered, but I know that real-time feedback and the single pad were part of it. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if name recognition didn't factor in since all of our other defibrillators are Zoll.
I have not been able to get them to pull the trigger on purchasing yet (even though our main customer base- truck driver- are notorious for not being in the best health). But in my research and what I recommended previous to them was ease of use. In other words, dummy proof. Zoll was one of the main ones I had looked at due to it walking you through everything.