Sarah is researching for information about defibrillators. She has just learned her mother needs one and wants to be prepared for the cardiologist when he comes in
Discuss the difference between automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), automatic implanted cardioverter defibrillators (AICDs), and pacemakers.
a. How do they work on the heart and the rhythms?
b. Are the shocks from the different implants felt by the client?
c. How do they function with the client's heart?
d. Do they need replacing? If so, how frequently?
e. Are there medications the clients need to be on with these?
f. Are these reprogrammable? If so, what are the indications needed?
Students' answers should include the following:
a. The generator of the AICD is programmed for various responses to sense rhythms, recording data and resetting itself.
AICD delivers 200 to 250 discharges at a time.
Pacemakers can be set at different rates: asynchronous, synchronous, and slow. They only discharge if the rate of the rhythm is too fast or too slow. AEDs are placed in public places and used by EMTs and other people trained in the Heartsaver AED Course.
b. Shocks may sometimes be felt by others who may be touching the person if the shock is strong enough and delivered when contact is made.
c. Pacemakers function by slowing down or speeding up the heart.
Pacemakers supply the necessary electrical stimulus for the heart and may be felt by the client and anyone touching the client when they fire. AICDs function by discharging an electrical current to cause the client's rhythm to go back into a normal or safer rhythm than the one they are currently in.
d. Pacemakers are temporary and permanent.
AICD is checked every 3 to 4 months. Battery life is 3 to 5 years.
e. Frequently, clients with AICDs and permanent pacemakers are on an anticoagulant to prevent blood clots attaching to the hardware.
f. Pacemakers are interrogated regularly and can be reset or adjusted as needed.
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