AED in Europe. Report on a survey.
BACKGROUND
Based on the strategies for community defibrillation defined by a joint policy conference of ESC and ERC, we have conducted a survey to identify the current status of AED programmes in Europe.


METHODS
All registered visitors to the website of the ERC were contacted by e-mail and invited to participate in a web-based survey.


RESULTS
Of the 983 usable responses, 899 came from 36 European countries, representing a total of 748 million inhabitants. In 11 countries AED use by non-physicians has been implemented partially. All but 3 countries reported that first-tier ambulances are equipped with defibrillators. In 13 countries everybody is allowed to use an AED and in 11 countries anybody who has been trained. In 14 countries there are a few community responder programmes, in 14 countries there are hardly any, and in 7 countries there are none. Thirteen countries have implemented a few on-site responder programmes; in 16 countries there are hardly any such programmes, and in 7 countries none. Programmes for home responders can hardly be found in 19 countries; in-hospital programmes exist in 7 countries nearly everywhere. Only 1 country reported that epidemiologic and/or economic evaluations are carried out nearly everywhere when planning AED programmes. Nationwide registries to collect data from resuscitation attempts have been set up in 4 countries. In 27 countries inventories for AEDs can be found here and there.


CONCLUSIONS
Much has been achieved concerning the provision and use of AEDs in Europe, but there is still a long way to go.
Bahr
Jan
J
European Resuscitation Council, Drie Eikenstraat 661, 2650 Edegem, Belgium. jan.bahr@med.uni-goettingen.de
Bossaert
Leo
L
Handley
Anthony
A
Koster
Ruud
R
Vissers
Bart
B
Monsieurs
Koen
K
D047548:Defibrillators / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires