On 10/11/2015 12:37, soup wrote:
On 10/11/2015 10:14, Nightjar cpb wrote:
but anybody can follow the instructions from an AED.

Yup your significant other/parent is lying there not breathing and
covered in their own vomit. Of course anyone (hah) will be calm
enough to use a piece of medical equipment.

(IMHO) You cannot ask an acquaintance of the injured party to do
ANYTHING beyond the "keep pressure on here"/ "go direct the Ambulance
to here" sort of help. Yes some will 'keep their heads' and do
anything you say but most will just be a 'gibbering mess".


ANECDOTE :-
I was the first aider at work when a guest had a heart attack and I had
to perform CPR on him, I was flapping big style (brought him back a
couple of times and he was still alive when he was put in the
Ambulance) if it had been someone I knew, I doubt I could have followed
instructions on how to use fairly technical equipment.


AEDs are kept in public places - garden centres, shopping arcades and
even the middle of a high street, for example. There is a fairly good
chance that there will be at least one person around with the presence
of mind to grab it and anybody who thinks of that will be able to follow
the step by step instructions given verbally by the machine.

--
Colin Bignell