Surgery: light – thermal – and electrical application – Light – thermal – and electrical application – Electrical therapeutic systems
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-21
2003-12-09
Getzow, Scott M. (Department: 3762)
Surgery: light, thermal, and electrical application
Light, thermal, and electrical application
Electrical therapeutic systems
Reexamination Certificate
active
06662046
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to a medical device such as an automated or semi-automated external defibrillator (AED), and more particularly to a defibrillator that can turn on, turn off, or turn both on and off automatically, a case for storing the defibrillator, a system that includes the defibrillator and the case, and related methods.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
AEDs have saved the lives of many patients who have suffered cardiac arrest in non-hospital settings, and, as a result of advances in AED technology, the number of lives saved per year is rising. An AED is a battery-operated device that analyzes a patient's heart rhythm, and, if appropriate, administers an electrical shock (automated) or instructs an operator to administer an electrical shock (semi-automated) to the patient via electrode pads. For example, such a shock can often revive a patient who is experiencing ventricular fibrillation (VF).
Because cardiac arrest can cause permanent damage or death within a short time if left untreated, an AED operator should be able to set up and activate an AED within seconds after the operator arrives at the scene. Statistically, for each minute that the patient is in cardiac arrest and is not receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), his chance of survival decreases by 10%. And in most cases, there is no chance for resuscitation after 10 minutes. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to administer CPR. And, even in the best of circumstances, it can take a few minutes to retrieve the AED and a few additional minutes for the AED to diagnose and shock the patient. Therefore, even if the patient is discovered immediately, the operator often has little time to set up and activate the AED without further decreasing the patient's chance of survival. Clearly, the faster the operator can activate and set up the AED, the better the chances that the patient will survive.
Unfortunately, with the continued proliferation of easily accessed AEDs, it is increasingly likely that an operator will have little or no experience using a particular brand of AED and/or may panic during a resuscitation attempt, and thus may waste valuable seconds trying to figure out how to turn on, i.e., activate, an AED. Although an entity such as an airline may provide AEDs in its places of business and train its employees to operate them, an employee typically uses these AEDs so infrequently that his skills may become “rusty” even if the entity offers periodic refresher courses. Furthermore, non-employees such as airline passengers may have no formal training in the use of an AED; consequently, the first time that such a person operates an AED may be during a resuscitation attempt. Now although an AED will often “walk” an operator through the steps of resuscitation once the AED is activated, the operator typically must determine how to activate the AED on his own. Unfortunately, the operator's “rustiness” or lack of training coupled with the anxiety induced by the resuscitation effort may make it difficult for the operator to determine how to activate the AED. Furthermore, the label of the AED's on/off switch may be confusing to the operator, and thus may exacerbate his difficulty in determining how to activate the AED. For example, the on/off switch may use a “1” to indicate “on”, and a “0” to indicate “off.” But although “1” and “0” are touted as being “universal” on and off symbols, respectively, they are often unrecognizable to an operator without electronics or computer experience. And although the AED may use the words “on” and “off” or their non-English equivalents to label the switch, these words may be unrecognizable to an operator who speaks another language or may be difficult to see under non-optimal lighting conditions.
General Overview of an AED
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional AED system
10
, which includes an AED
12
for generating a defibrillation shock and defibrillator electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
for providing the shock to a patient (not shown). A connector
16
couples the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
to a receptacle
18
of the AED
12
. Typically, the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
are sealed within a package (not shown) that an operator (hands shown in
FIG. 1
) tears or peels open to access the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
. The package acts as a moisture barrier that prevents the electrode-pad contact gel (not shown) from prematurely drying out during storage of the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
. A battery
19
, which typically is a lithium-based battery, can provide relatively high power so that the AED
12
can quickly generate the defibrillation shock. The battery
19
and AED
12
may be stored separately, with the operator connecting the battery
19
to the AED
12
just prior to use in an emergency. Or preferably, the battery
19
and AED
12
may be stored together, with the battery
19
connected to the AED
12
during storage. For example, the battery
19
is often disposed inside of the AED
12
until it needs to be replaced.
The AED
12
includes a housing
21
, a main on/off switch
20
, a display
22
for displaying operator instructions, cardiac waveforms, or other information, a speaker
24
for providing audible operator instructions or other information, status light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
26
, a status indicator
28
, and a shock button
30
, which the operator presses to deliver a shock to the patient (not shown). The AED
12
may also include a microphone
32
for recording the operator's voice and other audible sounds that occur during the rescue, and non-volatile memory such as a data card
34
for storing these sounds along with the patient's ECG and a record of AED events for later study.
Still referring to
FIG. 1
, during an emergency where it is determined that the patient (not shown) may need a shock, the operator retrieves the AED
12
, then presses the on/off switch
22
to activate the AED
12
. Once activated, the AED
12
displays instructions on the display
24
and/or “speaks” instructions via the speaker
26
. Following these instructions, the operator removes the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
from the protective package (not shown) and inserts the connector
16
into the receptacle
18
. Then, the operator places the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
on the patient in the respective positions shown in the pictures on the pads and on the AED
12
. After the operator places the electrode pads
14
a
and
14
b
on the patient, the AED
12
analyzes the patient's ECG to determine whether the patient is suffering from a shockable heart rhythm. If the AED
12
determines that the patient is suffering from a shockable heart rhythm, then it instructs the operator to depress the shock button
30
to deliver a shock to the patient. Conversely, if the AED
12
determines that the patient is not suffering from a shockable heart rhythm, it informs the operator to seek appropriate non-shock treatment for the patient and disables the shock button
30
so that even if the operator presses the button
30
, the AED
12
does not shock the patient.
As discussed above, the operator's inexperience, anxiety, and/or his inability to read the label of the switch
20
may delay the activation, and thus the set up and use, of the AED
12
. Unfortunately, this delay may reduce the patient's chance of survival by increasing the time that he is in cardiac arrest.
Consequently, a need exists for an AED that activates automatically when needed to resuscitate a patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one embodiment of the invention, a defibrillator includes a housing and an activator disposed or attached to the housing. The activator activates the defibrillator when the housing moves from a predetermined location.
Such a defibrillator can be designed such that it activates automatically when an operator removes it from a storage location. This automatic activation often decreases the time it takes the operator—particularly an inexperienced or anxious operator—to set u
Getzow Scott M.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics , N.V.
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