Shock therapy: when it comes to saving lives, AEDs, not CPR, may be your best hope. Here's why.(RISK MANAGEMENT)(Automated External Defibrillator)(Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)(lifeguards training on first aid assistance)

On July 13, 2004, a 55-year-old man collapsed in the Medina Aquatic and Fitness Center in Ohio. Aquatics Manager Darlene Donkin was on the scene and realized he was in cardiac arrest. She quickly administered two rounds of CPR, before the automatic external defibrillator was brought to his side and the electrodes were attached.

After one shock, the victim's heart returned to a normal sinus rhythm. The next day, the man had triple bypass surgery and did not suffer any hypoxic brain damage as a result of this incident. He was lucky.

But in many aquatics facilities today, he wouldn't have been so lucky: an AED wouldn't have been on hand. Even if it were, staff might not have been properly trained in how to use it. That's a shocking omission, especially in today's litigious environment when many states and cities are passing legislation requiring AEDs in public facilities, including aquatics venues.

An AED is a device designed to assess a person's heart rhythm and administer an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm in victims of cardiac arrest. A microprocessor analyzes the heart rhythm through adhesive electrodes; determines whether defibrillation is needed based on whether the victim has a "shockable rhythm"; advises the operator whether a shock is needed; and then charges itself for the administration of that electric shock in an attempt to restore the heart beat.

Typically, when I ask operators why their facility does not have an AED, they often say something like, "All the police cars have AEDs on board." Or, "The rescue squad is right down the street."

However, the average response time from dispatch to scene arrival across the U.S. is approximately 10 minutes. Once the EMS personnel arrive, it may even take several additional minutes before they are able to make contact with the patient. By that time, research shows, it may be too late. Studies show that when a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest, chances of survival decrease seven to 10 percent for each minute that passes without defibrillation.

Roger White, a Mayo Clinic researcher and medical director for the early defibrillation program in Rochester, Minn., measured to the second how much time passes between a 911 call and the instant a shock is delivered to a cardiac arrest patient. His data showed that victims shocked within six minutes almost always lived, while those shocked after six minutes almost always died. Currently, 95 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital due to the time it takes emergency personnel to arrive on the scene.