Do Residents Want Automated External Defibrillators in Their Retirement Home?

Woolley, Douglas C.; Medvene, Louis J.; Kellerman, Rick D.; Base, Michelle; Mosack, Victoria

doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2005.08.004

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Volume 7, Issue 3 , Pages 135-140, March 2006

Do Residents Want Automated External Defibrillators in Their Retirement Home?

Douglas C. Woolley, MD, MPH, CMD
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, Kansas University School of Medicine, Wichita, KS
- Dr Woolley was supported with an Advanced Research Training Grant from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.
- Address correspondence to Douglas C. Woolley, MD, MPH, CMD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Kansas University School of Medicine, Wichita, 1010 N Kansas Street, Wichita, KS 67214-3199
Louis J. Medvene, PhD
- Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Rick D. Kellerman, MD
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, Kansas University School of Medicine, Wichita, KS
Michelle Base, MA
- Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Victoria Mosack, MSN, RN, ARNP
- Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

published online 06 January 2006.

Purpose

The administration of a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), while weighing practical and ethical questions surrounding installation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), wanted to consider resident opinions. No databased studies on this subject were found.

Design and Methods

After an information session about AEDs, CCRC residents were surveyed concerning their opinions on AED installation, their beliefs and concerns regarding AEDs, their advance directive status, and their demographic characteristics. Correlations were sought between choices about AED installation and beliefs, advance directives, and demographics.

Results

Seventy-eight percent of 107 eligible residents participated. Twenty-seven percent wanted AEDs installed, 37% were not sure, 23% were opposed, and 11% did not answer this question. Univariate analysis showed that women, the widowed or single, and those with a college degree were more likely to oppose AEDs. In the best logistic regression (LR) model the hope that “AED use could be life saving” and the fears that “AED use might lead to a very poor quality of life” and that “AEDs might be misused” were more important than any demographic variables and only education remained in the model. Those opposing AEDs supplied powerful written comments to support their choice.

Conclusions

There is no consensus and great indecision about AED installation among the residents of this CCRC. The subjects were somewhat older and more affluent than the typical retirement home population, pointing to the need for replicating the investigation with a larger and more diverse study population. However, these findings suggest that AED installation in a retirement home would be premature without engaging the entire community in discussions and education in a process considerate of the wishes of all residents, which are likely to be quite diverse.

Keywords: Defibrillation , resuscitation , sudden death , advance directives , continuing care retirement homes