Why do organisations implement automated external defibrillators?

Abstract

Automated external defibrillators are becoming ubiquitous in public space, with a wide variety of organisations adopting this technology as a way of dealing with the risk of cardiac arrest to staff or users of the organisation. In this article, we examine why organisations had purchased defibrillators. We explore how organisations perceive their responsibilities to staff and visitors in an emergency, and why organisations believe a defibrillator is an appropriate technology. This article draws on data from a qualitative, interview-based study of five large public-sector organisations (universities) in the United Kingdom, in 2011–2012. We found that the organisations perceived the risk of cardiac arrest to be substantial, though the available epidemiological evidence did not support this. They perceived the defibrillator to be an effective technology for managing this risk, as part of a wider first aid system. Instances where a cardiac arrest had occurred in the organisation were likely to persuade them to adopt the defibrillator. Our study indicated that the organisations were unaware of (or chose to ignore) the available ‘scientific’ evidence, which cast doubt on both of the scale of the risk of cardiac arrest and the effectiveness of the defibrillator in dealing with it. In this case, the symbolic power of the defibrillator to address a risk perceived to be serious enough to warrant substantial expenditure was sufficient to persuade organisations to adopt it.

Keywords:

• automated external defibrillators
• risk
• actor–network theory

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Paraskevas Vezyridis, Juliette Cook and the Resuscitation Council (UK).

Funding

This work was supported by the Resuscitation Council (UK).

Notes

1. Pseudonyms have been adopted for the universities for reasons of confidentiality.

2. 2.75 deaths from cardiac disease per 100,000 people in the United Kingdom (Nichols et al. 2013)

3. Fabrice Muamba who had a heart attack on the pitch in a premiership football match is a good example of this phenomenon.