AED Course - Personal Experiences
Following on from the Oxygen Administration Course that Andy ran as part of the Dive Leader training on Saturday 20th February 2007 and the Oxygen Refresher Course the following morning Andy Procter presented the first ever BSAC Defibrillation Course, this he has developed as part of his duties as Safety and Rescue Skills Chief Instructor. The event was a part course and part instructor workshop – to test the waters on how the course would be rolled out to the general membership and also to gain feedback from the ‘audience’ as to their feeling of the course content.
Before attending I had an idea that it would be something akin to what you see on Saturday evenings on Casualty – people running around with two paddles in their hands, placing them on some poor unfortunates chest and making them jump a foot or so in the air, then with a despairing look to camera announcing that ‘they are not going to – sob – make it’ Roll credits!
Well it couldn’t have been further from the truth except that the acting, from the manikins, was about the same. The units that we used (I will point out that these are training units and as such do not have the ability to carry electric shocks) are battery powered and are about the size of a standard lap top. They have the paddles for the administering of the shock which are kept in a grey and blue box – grey for one side of the chest and grey for the other. Controls for the unit are by way of two buttons and further more it actually tells the rescuer what to do with voice prompts. The training units lived in material bags but a further ‘real’ one was housed in a tough plastic water poof case. And the cost? Over £1000, plus case. Because the BSAC is promoting this type of rescue equipment, Laderal, the manufactures are offering a 10% discount to members.
A lot on money but in the unfortunate circumstance that it is used only once then it will have paid for itself.
Gary Clayton
Page last modified: 8th Mar 2007 - 10:57:44