Minutes count when a person collapses in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and Defib machines have been described as the ‘single most important development in the treatment of SCA’ (Resuscitation Council UK). 

You have probably seen the green boxes appearing in various public spaces, i.e. shopping centers, train stations and they are continuing to be rolled out because along with CPR, using an AED can dramatically increase the chance of survival. 

Due to this increase in awareness of defibrillation, we, at defibs.co.uk, want to ensure that anyone who buys one of our defibs is confident in using it. You don’t need any training to be able to use one of our defibs but we want to help improve confidence and reduce the hesitance towards using them in an emergency situation.

Firstly, let's understand why people may not be confident using a Defib:

1. Worry of doing it wrong: When emergencies occur, people want to help in any way possible. However, those around may feel inadequate and thus prefer to await the ambulance.
2.  Fear of catching infections: This has certainly been amplified by covid. There are certain situations where using a defib or offering first aid could result in cross infection. Which can understandably make people hesitant to get involved.
3.  Fear of hurting the casualty: In other cases, especially for persons new to first aid, there is fear that they might inflict pain or even worsen the victims condition. 

 How Can You Overcome These Challenges?

1. Offering first aid requires confidence and courage. You can do your own reading, lots of websites give tips, our sister site, STS has a variety of blog posts and we are also lucky to have such a great service as the NHS website with tons of useful advice for a wide variety of situations. But nothing beats the level of skill gained from face to face training with a skilled teacher. Our sister brand STS offers well paced qualifications to give you the confidence to help in an emergency.  
2. When dealing with an emergency you must always remember to keep yourself as safe as possible. The last thing you want is for you to become a casualty too. There are a variety of items that can help in this situation, a good  thing to consider would be making sure that your first aid kit contains a facemask and gloves as this will help protect you in many different first aid situations.
3. You may cause people discomfort, using a defib could involve cutting peoples clothes too. But these challenges are better than the alternative of not helping at all. To make things easier, Defibs like the Defibtech Lifeline will literally talk you through the process in a clear, step by step way and remember that all defibs analyse the patient's heartbeat and will only issue a shock if it is necessary.