Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)
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List Price: Our Price: $1,275.00 You Save: $720.00 (36%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Product Reviews of Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)
Product Review: Worth Considering
Summary: 5 Stars
I was employed by a major airline as a flight attendant. Our company was one of the first to madate AED's onboard. Because of my experience, I would recommend this product, but ONLY if you are in a risk group. The key to survivablility of a cardiac arrest is the response time to medical treatment.
An AED can close the gap between the incident and the arrival of professional medical assistance. Minutes of delay can mean death or brain damage.
This was my experience with an AED. A passenger suffered what appeared to be a cardiac arrest. There were no professional medical personnel onboard other than the well trained flight crew. For those that think that flight attendants are onboard to serve coctails and peanuts, think again.
The beauty of the AED is the precision method of monitoring the patient's vital signs, then advising proper steps. This helps to alleviate human error in administering first aid. After assessing the vital signs of the patient manually, we hooked him up to the AED. The system advised a shock. One was administered, which restored some heart rhythm. We were able to continue artificial respiration until the aircraft landed and medical personnel arrived. The passenger, while he did not regain consciousness onboard, did recover from his cardiac arrest.
The timeframe of surviving a cardiac arrest is measured in just a few minutes. The AED offers a helping hand in a crucial situation. If you are in a risk group, I'd recommend this product.
Product Review: Best Investment you'll hopefully never have to use
Summary: 5 Stars
As an Emergency Nurse Practitioner and Paramedic, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting electricity to an adult who is suffering from cardiac arrest. Technology is moving quickly to get electricity to the cardiac arrest victim earlier and earlier -- and the survival rates AND quality of life rates after such an arrest are sky rocketing accordingly.
Is there too much direct-to-consumer marketing by medical-related companies? Probably. Is your personal risk for experiencing sudden cardiac arrest per calendar year low? Definitely. ...but do those smug reviewers refuse to buy vehicles with airbags in them just because their risk of being in an accident is low and the direct-to-consumer marketing is irritating to them? No! Those will be the same folks who want their cars with anti-lock breaks, airbags, the best side-impact reinforcements... and being a good driver (ie, "just improve your diet") won't cancel their risk for being in an accident.
I hope you never have to use this machine, but as an emergency healthcare worker -- both pre-hospital and in the emergency room -- I cannot say enough positive about AED's in the community setting!
Don't run out and purchase this out of paranoia, however if yuo are at risk for a sudden cardiac event consider if this would be appropriate for you, your family members, your apartment building, your church, etc. ...and rest assured that it is absolutely safe -- it is impossible to hurt a loved one with this, you can only help.
...and to those who gave negative reviews on this AED? Don't forget to pay your car insurance!...
Product Review: More Direct to Consumer Profit Taking
Summary: 1 Stars
This is another attempt by medical companies to profit making from consumers. There is not much data for the use of defibrillators at home. As an Emergency Physician I would advocate against the use of this at home, however their use in public areas is appropriate.Product Review: It is simple to use, may possibly save a life, and the price is worth the peace of mind.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just completed the red cross Adult AED training course, and had the opportunity to train with this exact Philips device. The machine is very simple to use, and gives very clear and precise audio instructions while using it.
I absolutely recommend an AED training course, or else at minimum reading the directions thoroughly BEFORE you ever are in a situation where you might have to use the AED, so that you are familiar and comfortable with the steps you would take in the unfortunate case that you would actually have to use the AED.
I understand other reviewers' perspectives that the investment may not be 'cost effective', and that the likelihood that you would ever use it is very low and so therefore a 'waste of money'.
Yes it is expensive, but you cannot really put a price on a saved life - it is priceless. And, the cost for the AED has come down significantly in the last year. If you can afford a Starbucks coffee every day, for example, then you can certainly afford to buy one of these.
In my opinion, the AED provides a tremendous value as a worst-case precautionary measure.... Though the AED only works in select cases of fibrillation, and the strength of shock is lower than what an EMT can provide, the point of this AED is in cases when you have called 911, and help is on the way but NOT YET THERE.... it only shocks if after the device performs an analysis, it determines the shock is appropriate for the situation -- so you don't risk hurting the person in distress by using it, as long as you follow the simple directions (i.e. when it is analyzing and shocking, you and all other parties must stand clear and not touch the person who is being cared for).
I also recommend learning or reviewing CPR skills and procedures so that you know what to do in the event that you need to provide care for someone else. If you ever use the AED, you will likely need to also perform CPR.
Perhaps this is not true for everybody. But for me, in my own case, it is better to have the peace of mind that I try and do everything I possibly can to help aide and care for a person in distress.
I hope and pray that this is the "worst" investment I have ever made as I hope to never be in a situation where I would have to actually USE the AED -- but if I ever do find myself where a person in my home is suffering from chest pain or becomes unconscious, I would rather have the AED on hand (and know how to use it) and take the chance that it might help them, but know there is a good chance it might not, but at least I know I did everything I could while waiting for the EMT to arrive.... than not have the AED as an option at all.
Product Review: The facts
Summary: 5 Stars
1) THE FACTS
These are the statistics you should know before believing any commentator on this opinion board. They are taken from the very authoritative "ACLS - Principles and Practice" of the American Heart Association, p 93, a highly recommended reading.
Rates of survival to hospital discharge for patients with witnessed ventricular fibrillation arrest:
No CPR, delayed defribillation (>10 minutes): 0-2% survive
Early CPR, Delayed defibrillation (>10 mn): 2-8% survive
Early CPR, Early defibrillation (7 mn): 20% survive
Early CPR, Very early defibrillation (4 mn): 30% survive
Public access defibrillation programs in airports and casinos have been able to break the 2 minutes to 1st shock barrier with survival rate of 50-70%
In supervised setting with extremely early defibrillation, 89% survive (based of 101 victims)
Nearly all neuroloogically intact survivors who in some studies number more than 90% had a ventricular tachyarrhythmia that was treated by early defibrillation.
Now ask yourself this: how long, realistically, do you think it would take:
1) for an ambulance (assuming the one closest to you is available at the time of calling) will reach your house, assuming no traffic and no difficulty finding your home
2) for the personnel to carry their equipment, introduce themselves, go to the room where the patient is
3) reevaluate the situation themselves, before, finally
4) decide to install the defibrillator and defibrille ?
(I live in a place in the country where it is not realistic to have an ambulance ARRIVE at my home in less than 20 mn under the best condition (at night with zero traffic), so in my case probability of survival to sudden cardiac arrest at home realistically is nil)
2) THE RISKS
Ok, a defibrillator might be useful if you have a ventricular fibrillation. But, what are the chance of you having one ?
(From Harrison's Principle of Internal Medicine, p 1618)
Sudden Cardiac Arrest probability:
Adolescent and young adults: 1/100,000
between 45 and 75 years: 1/750 (unselected population)
Male are 7x as likely to female to have a sudden cardiac arrest.
% of suddent cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation: 65-80%
When all factored in, for an unselected male 45 to 75 the probability of ventricular fibrillation per year is somewhere near 0.08%.
For your defibrillator to be of any use, you would need all that your cardiac arrest due to a ventricular fibrillation occurs:
1) when you are not sleeping (about 1/3 chance)
2) when your defibrillator is nearby (? chance)
3) when someone is actually witnessing your cardiac arrest (1/2 ?)
4) and that witness knows a defibrillator is nearby, will think of using it, and knows how to use it (?)
Your probability of successful use is probably going down to 0.01% after all this.
Your altruism might crank it up to 0.03% to take into account middle-aged visitors and members of your family your defibrillator will help
THE COST
Now we can determine the cost per life saved:
Cost of machine per year (assuming 10 year depreciation) / (Probability per year of event (middle aged) x optimistic survival rate or 80%) (assuming the alternative is close to 0% survival)
$150 / 0.03% = $500,000 per male life saved
OTHER WAY TO CALCULATE IT
200,000 sudden cardiac arrest in the USA
Assuming every citizen out of 4 in the USA (250M/4) has a defibrillator ($1500/10 year depreciation=$150) (62.5M x $150= about $10,000M total cost) and that 1/10 cardiac arrest will be saved because 1/10 cardiac arrest will fullfill all the successfull condition (ventricular fibrillation, occurs while awake, near a knowledgeable adult, near a defibrillator, not in a car while driving, etc) then the cost per life saved would be: $10,000 Millions / (200,000 * 1/10) = $500,000 per life saved per year.
While I do see the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of the product for airports and other such public area, I am of the opinion that it is not cost effective for the average family.
A much more cost-effectively way to increase your longevity is simply to alter your diet.