April 2012    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 27, No. 4   What's this?

Do Water and AEDs Mix?

from the April, 2012 issue of Undercurrent  

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After reading last month's article "A Shock to Divers' Hearts" about automated external defibrillators, reader Ken Freedland (St. Louis, MO) had this question for us. "When I was trained in automated external defibrillator (AED) use at the medical research lab where I work, we were taught that it is essential to make sure that the patient is on a dry surface, so that the AED operator and/or bystanders don't get shocked. Is it actually possible to have a dry surface on board a boat when a diver has just been pulled out of the water? What procedures should be followed to ensure that the surface is sufficiently dry to use the AED?"...