Sudden death is the third leading cause of death in Europe. Every 15 minutes, a person dies in Spain from this cause. However, if we could act quickly when we witness a cardiorespiratory arrest, these figures would be reduced. Something that is possible by practicing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) maneuvers and using a defibrillator. That is why it is essential that we all know what we should do in a situation of these characteristics, since sudden death is a death that is not expected and does not present previous symptoms, so those who suffer from it are not usually in a hospital or in a pharmacy.
This was explained by Dr. Pablo Loma-Osorio, cardiologist at the University Hospital of Girona Doctor Josep Trueta, in the meeting How to reduce deaths due to sudden death , in which he insisted that the intervention of the general population that witnesses a cardiorespiratory arrest is essential to start the chain of survival and save lives.
How to act?
The most common sudden death is related to an electrical problem in the heart that occurs quickly and takes very little time to treat. From the first minutes there already begins to be irreversible damage. Hence the importance of acting quickly and following the five steps of the chain of survival :
- Check if the person is conscious and breathing
- If you are not breathing, call 112
- Practice CPR maneuvers (100 to 120 compressions per minute on the sternum)
- Ask another person to locate the nearest defibrillator
- Continue CPR maneuvers until the ambulance arrives
defibrillator function
Defibrillation is based on the sudden and brief application of a high-voltage electrical current to stop and reverse rapid cardiac arrhythmias (sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation); situations in which the number of heartbeats increases excessively or a disorganized electrical activity occurs, due to some area or focus of the heart ‘firing’ impulses in an uncontrolled manner, which are not effective or produce hemodynamic instability (deterioration of the vital signs) and can bring a person to cardiac arrest. The electrical shock restores normal heart rhythm by applying the electrical shock .
How does it work
The defibrillator has sensors that analyze the patient’s heart rhythm. Thus, when the patient’s heart stops beating, the defibrillator delivers the electrical shock through the chest wall to restore normal heart rhythm. That is why its use is key in this situation.
Hence the importance of the presence of defibrillators in as many points of the town as possible. But, in addition, we have to know where they are to be able to use them. To speed up the search for the nearest defibrillator, the Ariadna application was developed , a collaborative map of defibrillators in Spain in which any citizen can help locate them by taking advantage of technology. The idea is for anyone to lend their help by uploading, by geolocation, the location of AED devices in public or private spaces, or by validating those that have already been previously registered by other users, and even completing the information with photographs of the device. place.
