New international AED sign
ILCOR has announced an official international sign for automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). ILCOR chairman and cardiologist R.W. Koster described the sign as indicating the presence of an AED within a room, a container or that an AED can be found in a certain direction. The symbol purposefully has no markings to allow for international usage.
Increasingly research is indicating that the best patient outcomes do not require advanced life support (ALS), pharmacological treatment or invasive procedures. As Dr. John Burton describes, if you want to survive a heart attack out of hospital then you will want; Someone nearby to quickly begin CPR; An AED to be very close; And to have your core body temperature dropped a few degrees. Bringing AEDs closer to cardiac arrest is one of the simplest measures that can be undertaken to improve patient outcome.
