AED use varies by race and geography

Racial and Geographic Disparities in Automated External Defibrillator Use During EMS Encounters in the United States
Healthcare · Added 21 May 2026

Analysis of AED deployment patterns during EMS encounters revealing racial and geographic differences in defibrillator access and application.

Study type: Cross-sectional
Design: Descriptive cross-sectional analysis of aggregated national EMS data
Participants: 106,246 EMS encounters across six racial/ethnic groups
Main finding: AED applied in 16,688 encounters (15.7%); rates varied by race and geography, with lowest use in White patients and markedly lower use in suburban and frontier areas
Caveat: Aggregated public data cannot distinguish true inequity from case or system factors
Bottom line: Context only

Learning goal

Understand how community access barriers affect early defibrillator use in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Geolocation recruits responders to defibrillators

Resuscitation · 23 May 2026 · Other · Context only

This study evaluated whether a geolocation system can recruit volunteer first responders to nearby defibrillators in real time, and found it successfully mobilised responders and shortened time to first shock compared with historical controls.
System failure drives poor OHCA outcomes in India

Resuscitation · 23 May 2026 · Other · Context only

This commentary argues that poor resuscitation outcomes in India are driven by prehospital system failures rather than individual provider limitations, highlighting the need for structural reforms in emergency response infrastructure and training.
EMS volume doesn't affect traumatic arrest outcomes

Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine · 20 May 2026 · Registry · Context only

Retrospective cohort examining whether higher EMS encounter volume is associated with better management and outcomes in prehospital traumatic cardiac arrest.
DSED use rising but still low after DOSE VF

Prehospital Emergency Care · 18 May 2026 · Cohort · Context only

Nationwide observational study examined trends in DSED use for refractory VF before and after publication of the DOSE VF trial.