AED in Europe. Report on a survey

INTRODUCTION: 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. CONCLUSION: Much has been achieved concerning the provision and use of AEDs in Europe, but there is still a long way to go