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Obtain Medical Direction
If you’re lucky, a physician will be a member of your committee from day
one. More likely, you will have to obtain a medical director after much
of the ground work has been laid. Medical directors perform a variety of
functions. They will provide a prescription which is required to
purchase an AED and they will want to be informed in the event that the
AED is used in an actual rescue. They may wish to review the data stored
in the AED during the rescue.
Medical directors may also provide:
- Information about which model of AED they would suggest for
your application;
- Answers to questions about how AEDs work and why they are
important
- A specific protocol that they wish to have the AED follow
(most AEDs provide three analysis-shock cycles, followed by one minute of
CPR, followed by three more analysis-shock cycles followed by another
minute of CPR and so on. AEDs can be adjusted to other protocols
recommended by your medical director).
The physician that
writes your prescription is also going to demand that some nationally (or
state) recognized training program is followed in teaching the use of the
AED and that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations in checking and
maintaining the AED.
The more involved the
physician is, the more confident you can be that you are implementing a
sound program. Don’t be surprised if he writes the prescription and tells
you to contact him if the AED is ever used during a cardiac arrest. It’s
not that the physician isn’t interested but he may not have the time to be
as involved as he would like to be
If your agency has a
physician on retainer, this is a good place to start your search for a
medical director. Other likely candidates are Emergency Room physicians
from the local hospital, cardiologists, and family practitioners. All of
these medical experts are probably well versed on the value of PAD
programs. Perhaps they won’t know the relative merits of the newest AEDs,
but that isn’t as important as their willingness to be a resource to you.
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