My defibrillator has been used, what should I do now?

When your defibrillator has been used (deployed), there are a number of things you need to take care of before it is ready for use again.  In this blog, we explain what you need to do to make your defibrillator ready for use again after a deployment. Of course, we hope that by using your defibrillator, a life has been saved!

Step 1: Temporarily de-register the defibrillator

If your defibrillator is publicly or privately registered as active with an organization or on a website, you should first temporarily de-register your defibrillator, whilst you carry out the necessary steps to ensure your defibrillator is back in use.  This will avoid any time wasted if there is another incident and somebody comes to collect your non-working defibrillator, they can instead make their way directly to the nearest available working defibrillator.

Step 2: Read the event data from your defibrillator

During CPR, data is stored on the defibrillator that may be important for the victim's attending physician. In some cases, the hospital will want to receive this report from the defibrillator. Retrieving the event data from the defibrillator is done via a computer.  Simply connect your defibrillator with a cable or insert the SD card from the defibrillator. Special software is sometimes required to read the data from the defibrillator, in this case Medisol can retrieve the data from your defibrillator after deployment and send the report to you digitally. Please contact us if you need any help getting the data from your defibrillator!

Step 3: Replace the electrodes and if necessary the batteries of your AED

Each time your defibrillator has been deployed, you will need to replace the electrode pads and sometimes the battery. The electrodes of a defibrillator are single use and always need to be replaced after deployment. The battery will sometimes also need to be replaced, depending upon the model of your defibrillator or the battery level following the deployment.  If multiple shocks have been given, the battery capacity may no longer be sufficient, after a self-test, the defibrillator will  indicate if the battery level is too low. 

If you purchased your defibrillator from Medisol and are not a healthcare provider, we will give you FREE replacement electrodes and when necessary batteries, following a deployment of your defibrillator. In these cases, please contact us with the serial number of your defibrillator, so we can locate your original order and the name of the ambulance service that attended the scene.  We also request a brief non-personal summary of the event, we never share this information, as an independent supplier of defibrillators, this information helps us to assess and monitor the effectiveness of the defibrillators that we sell.

How to replace the electrode pads or battery is clearly explained in the user manual for your defibrillator.  All user-manuals can be found on our dedicated manual website: www.cprmanual.com.  If you need any help or advice when replacing the parts, just reach out to us, we are always on hand to help.

Once the new electrode pads (and battery if necessary) have been installed, it is time to re-activate the status of your defibrillator on any website or organization where your defibrillator might be registered.

Step 4: Psychological care following a resuscitation

When your defibrillator has been used, the chances are that you, bystanders or someone close to you has witnessed the resuscitation up close, or even resuscitated the victim or provided assistance. CPR can be a traumatic and emotional event and good aftercare is important. Talking about your experience can help with the coping process. Talk about your experience with family, friends, other civilian rescuers or others who were present at the resuscitation. For professional help, contact your doctor.

We hope that our step-by-step plan has helped you to quickly get your defibrillator ready for use again. If you still have questions or doubts about whether you have performed any of the steps correctly, you can always contact one of our specialists. They will be happy to answer all of your questions.