Defibrillators aren’t that scary
I think we can blame TV and film for this. Public perception of AEDs is that they are hard to use, dangerous should you get it wrong and that they need lots and lots of complicated training. TV execs sacrifice plenty of reality in favour of a good plot. Not that I blame them for this, that’s their job. And this is mine. The Myths about AEDS People think that they could make things worse by using an AED. This isn’t true. An AED will only deliver a shock to someone who really needs it. Their heart needs to be in one of the ‘shockable’ rhythms. These are VF and pulseless VT. The defib analyses the heart itself once the pads are attached and makes its own decision about whether or not they need a shock. People also think that they are hard to use. Most modern AEDs are designed…
Sepsis – What is it and how can we recognise it?
Sepsis is also known as blood poisoning, and is an inflammatory immune response triggered by an infection. In short this means that the body is overreacting to an infection. How the body is meant to react to infection. Invariably, humans will pick up various pathogens from the world around them. This may be by touching dirty surfaces on the bus and rubbing your eyes, or maybe by eating a takeaway that wasn’t prepared in a clean kitchen, or wasn’t cooked properly. Maybe, it will be simply because someone on the other side of the room sneezed. It probably won’t be your fault but it happens to the best of us. When these pathogens enter your body, your immune system steps in. An army of white blood cells seek and destroy the invading pathogens. Some diseases they will have seen before and will know how to fight. With newer enemies sometimes…