Biphasic Defibrillation

Rnn2003, MSN, RN · Jan 26, 2005

We are now using a biphasic defib at our hospital....it is very user friendly put the pads on the pt where the picture states and your ready.

11:11 · Jan 26, 2005

Anyone use biphasic defibrillators? All I know about them is that they require less juice to shock.....

Theres quite a bit of info out there to search on the web.

Basically Monophasic goes down throught the heart only...

Biphasis goes down throught the heart then back up again...

It is claimed that Biphasic requires less energy d/t the fact that is crosses the heart twice. The impact is supposedly less while being just as or more effective than monophasic.

The Joule settings on a Biphasic are less. Memorize both as both types are out there. In a worse case scenario the joule defib settings are in red on most machines making it easier to remember in a crisis, but you should still be familiar with both.

On an AED this is irrelevant.

It has been said that maybe this is upgrade by force, much the same that some fire depts EMS have called the requirement to carry Amiodarone by the AHA a "gun to the head" advancement.

Certainly the manufacturers arent complaining-

HTH

11

begalli · Jan 26, 2005

oops, duplicate of 11:11

bobnurse · Jan 26, 2005

In a easy, lay term way to think of monophasic versus biphasic.

You are looking at the actual amount of current the heart recieves. With a monophasic defibrillator, your sending your 200, 300, and 360 joules to the chest cavity, but how much of that does the heart actually get?

With Biphasic technology, your sending decreased energy through the chest wall, but the heart is getting the same or better current to the heart at a lower energy setting. So 120 joules biphasic gets the same amount of or better current to the heart as 200 joules biphasic and so forth.....200 joules biphasic does better than 360 joules monophasic. So with the decrease in energy, you have decreased side effects like burns and muscle damage and so forth.

So to recap this long boring explanation....Its all about the current. Biphasic can deliver better current at lower energy settings as compared to monophasic.