6.7 Lay person use of the AED

The intention for a public access defibrillation funded program is to maximise the appropriate use of an AED by either trained or untrained lay persons in the case of a casualty having a sudden cardiac arrest.

Four in five managers and staff strongly agreed or agreed that:

• 'Any untrained staff or member of the public could use an AED' (79% of the managers and 78% of the staff).

However, there was a low perceived likelihood of a lay person using an AED in the event of someone having a sudden cardiac arrest. Overall, one in three (34%) managers and one in five staff (25%) thought that untrained staff would definitely or probably use the AED in this type of situation (Figure 19). Half of the managers (46%) and the staff (53%) did not think untrained staff would use the AED (definitely not or probably not).

While the majority of managers and staff thought that any untrained staff or member of the public could use an AED, both groups thought that there was a low likelihood of this occurring with the current level of public knowledge.

Figure 19: Likeliness of untrained staff using the AED (manager and staff)

Q22/Q70. In the event of a sudden cardiac arrest, is it likely that these untrained staff would use the AED?