American Heart Association Automated External Defibrillator Symposium: Summary and Recommendations[1]
Summary
The American Heart Association (AHA) introduced public access defibrillation more than 30 years ago. Since then, we have seen the growth of public access defibrillation programs across many settings within communities. However, despite high expectations that the availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and more integrated public access defibrillation programs would dramatically increase cardiac arrest survival, AEDs are used in the United States in only 4% of out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrests and survival rates have remained disappointingly low. In follow‐up to a recent International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation report, an AED Symposium was organized by members of the AHA Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee to establish a strategic roadmap for AED technology, education and training, and real‐world use of these devices, including integration with public access defibrillation programs to meet the AHA's goal of doubling out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrests survival by 2