Second-Chance Pads for AEDs

In case of an emergency when a victim's heart stops working, cardiac defibrillation can shock the victim's heart back to its proper rhythm. To administer the shock, the emergency response team must quickly shave and prep an area on the chest, apply the sticky pads in the correct place to send electrical current through the heart, and flip the switch. The problem with this method is that often a second shock is needed for success in bringing the patient back to life, but with time being so valuable, the thirty seconds that have to be spent repositioning the pads can make the difference between life and death. A team of biomedical engineering students at Rice University calculated that they could save 13,000 lives per year if they could design something to eliminate this time wasted with repositioning the pads. They developed a unique pad system for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) called the Second-Chance AED Pads that allow a second attempt without losing valuable time to remove the pads from the victim's chest. "The pads incorporate three electrodes, two in a single pad with an A/B switch attached, and a third in its own pad. If one shock doesn't restart the patient's heart, flipping the switch will change the jolt's path, just a little bit, for the second attempt." With their easy-to-use instructions, their design makes it possible for inexperienced rescuers to use the AED because they don't have to be knowledgeable about where to exactly position the pads. The five team members "hope an AED manufacturer will pick up the rights to the Second-Chance pads for clinical trials and ultimately FDA approval."

I thought this article was interesting because it's a successful device designed by senior bioengineering students.