[LINK] o/t: cardiac arrest

[Tom Worthington]

At 12:15 PM 17/03/2009, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
>... does indeed saves lives ... Automated External Defibrillators (AED) ...

There is a lot of clever computer technology in these gadgets. See 
"Idiot-proofing the Defibrillator" by  Mark W. Kroll, Karl Kroll, and 
Byron Gilman, IEEE-CS, November 2008: 
<http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov08/6921>.

Just to make this on topic: perhaps they should put a wireless modem 
in the AED, so it can call the emergency services with the patent's 
details and the paramedics can render assistance remotely.

Late last year I found myself in an ambulance covered with sticky 
pads attached to a heart monitor 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2008/11/canberra-health-system-first-hand.html>. 
At the hospital they apologized the ambulance unit was not compatible 
with the hospital ECG and stuck another dozen electrodes on me. I was 
still finding and removing these things a few days after leaving the 
emergency ward, but at least I was alive to do so. Then some weeks 
later they stuck another set on me for a 12 hour portable monitoring 
(during which I looked like a suicide bomber, with my chest covered 
with coloured wires).



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University