any of you work in a long term care facility without an AED?

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I am a new nurse. During my orientation I asked where our AED was and our staff development person (RN) said "I hear we are going to get an AED soon."

Any of you work in a healthcare facility without an AED?

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I do. Our crash cart consists of oxygen, ambu bags, suction and a back board.

I have been talking to them about getting one but no luck yet.

Our applebees has one for goodness sake..

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My point exactly, katsanchezRN. Applebees has one, yet a healthcare facility doesn't? How stupid is the management to not spend $1000 on an AED and risk their public image (when the public learns that a coded patient there could have survived if AED was available)? Does anyone know why a nursing home might actually "choose" not to have an AED?

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Check with your local state Dept. of Health to see if they have any regs. Your facility would need it to be compliant with state survey requirements.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
I do. Our crash cart consists of oxygen, ambu bags, suction and a back board.

I have been talking to them about getting one but no luck yet.

Our applebees has one for goodness sake..

Same here and I suspect this is pretty common (been that way every LTC I've been in). No state regulation exists in my state for an AED.

The medicare cut backs continue to deeply cut into the profit margins - I'm sure Applebees has a better profit margin than your local LTC

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Our facility does about five lunches a year. If they didn't do that they can afford a decent AED. AED is not the matter of profit margin.

Furthermore, which way would the nursing home make more money down the road? when the pt expires? Or when the pt lives and comes back from the hospital to the nursing home?

I just cannot understand why no AED? Are nursing homes' managements that ignorant?

Applebees without forks will go out of business because customers know it right away. However, Applebees without proper dish sanitation equipment and do poor job of sanitizing dishes will probably stay in business because customers do not see that. The workers at the Applebees have obligation to demand that.

"In a study of Public-Access Defibrillation (PAD), communities with volunteers trained in CPR and the use of AEDs had twice as many victims survive compared to communities with volunteers trained only in CPR." 3. Hallstrom, A. and J. Ornato. "Public-Access-Defibrillation and Survival after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest." New England Journal of Medicine 351.7(2004, August 12): 637-646.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

We have one in our facility. It is locked up in the office. Available monday thru friday, 8 to 4 I guess! It will suck if needed on pm or noc shift, or on a weekend or holiday!!

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An employer without AED available 24/7 reflects their regard for their employees as well.

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