From 20th January 2023, defibrillators have become mandatory in all state-funded UK schools. Research has shown that the use of a defibrillator for three to five minutes from the time of a cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival by 40%.
The availability of these devices in schools is a meaningful way to safeguard the lives of students, parents, staff, and visitors to schools. The government’s defibrillator programme includes the installation of heated defibrillator cabinets outside school gates, which are accessible by communities. There are also provisions for two defibrillators in some schools, with the intention to have a second defibrillator in sports centres or near pools where the risk of a cardiac event is higher.
This forms part of the government’s broader plans to equip communities in need with defibrillators. One thousand community defibrillators and more than 20,000 school defibrillators are expected to be installed from a £1mn defibrillator fund.
The effectiveness of this programme relies on these devices being well-maintained, free from tampering and theft, and in a condition that does not affect their functionality. By using Internet of Things (IoT) smart technologies, the maintenance and care of defibrillators is simplified for schools and other organisations, ensuring they perform as needed in life-threatening situations.
Below are some of the benefits of smart defibrillator monitoring to maximise the effectiveness of these important devices.
Real-time monitoring
Smart technologies provide data insights on the status and condition of defibrillators and cabinets in real time. Some of the metrics include temperature, battery levels, status, faults, and location. This information is remotely accessible and can be viewed on a personalised dashboard. These smart solutions provide alerts on unusual or undesirable activity that inspire immediate action in the case of tampering or theft.
Especially in the case of cabinets that are located outdoors, extreme temperatures pose a worry for the continued operability of defibrillators. Many outdoor defibrillator cabinets are usually fitted with a thermostat that regulates temperature. Smart defibrillator monitoring provides real-time reports on temperature changes that may affect the effectiveness of defibrillators.
Manual monitoring is time consuming and resource intensive. Smart defibrillator monitoring automates these processes and removes the risk of oversight and human error. This empowers greater control and reduced timespans in addressing faults.
Maintenance
Caring for defibrillators traditionally involves regular manual inspections. This ensures, for example, that batteries have not reached their shelf life and confirms the presence of pads and accessories. The functionality of smart defibrillator monitoring outlined above is also used to achieve optimal defibrillator maintenance, allowing for maintenance audits and comprehensive record-keeping.
This is a pragmatic approach to preventative and corrective maintenance. Defibrillators themselves also last for about five to seven years depending on servicing and usage. Smart monitoring solutions keep a detailed record of the events throughout the lifecycle of individual machines to guide replacement as needed.
Smart defibrillator monitoring solutions, like those from Smarter Technologies Group, should have simple retrofit capabilities that align with different defibrillator models. Smart defibrillator monitoring is a powerful and inexpensive solution. Finding out that a defibrillator is not functioning or has been vandalised eats into the critical minutes following a cardiac event. This data reporting tool works to keep defibrillators operational and increase their potential to save lives.
