Monitor AED with Xarah and IoT

Background

Today is Valentine's Day, or "every hearts day" as we call it in Sweden. A good day to think about heart failure and what we can do about it. This also combines two of my main interests as an IoT expert as well as being a licensed CPR instructor.

A sudden cardiac arrest may happen to anyone at any time. And it sure does. Only in Sweden we have about 15 cases in average per day. So it is very likely that if you have not already you will, at least indirectly, encounter one some day. That is a scary fact. In order to survive or save the person suffering from cardiac arrest there are many things that needs to work.

First the person needs CPR immediately. This should supply the organs with enough oxygen until further help can arrive.

Then the person needs one or more electric shocks from an AED to restart the heart.

Finally the person need hospital care and examination in order to live a good life after the cardiac arrest.

Don't forget to call the local emergency number as soon as the cardiac arrest is noticed. The person will need professional care.

Of course this doesn't always save the person's life but the chances of survival is increased with about 70% if the actions above is performed within minutes from the cardiac arrest.

Monitor AED's

Now let's focus on the step with the AED. There are some things here that needs to function. First of all there must be an AED nearby. Please make sure you know where the nearest one are on the locations you spend your time. Then the AED also must be functional, and that is where the topic of this post comes in.

All AEDs sold today are very robust and doesn't need any maintenance. They do a self check regularly and signals that they are ok through a flashing led or some other easy to see mechanism.

But if the AED is placed somewhere and then is more or less forgotten, how do we know that it work as expected that one time when it is really needed? What if the AED was removed or what if it has a failure that no one detected? We need to look at it from time to time and we need to know if it is removed for any reason.

Luckily there are solutions to this that really adds peace of mind. There are two different tasks here. One is the regular inspection of the AED and one is to detect if the AED is removed. The first one is aided by an IT-system and the other one with an IoT system.

One solution to the first problem is Xarah. A system where there is a QR-code by the AED that can be scanned by anyone and mark if the AED is OK or not OK. If it is marked not OK there is an alarm sent immediately. And if there are too much time since the last OK a notification is sent out that reminds you that it is vice to check on your AED. This works well for regular checks on the AED, but it will not detect if the AED is suddenly removed.

The second problem is better solved with IoT. IoT Open can be connected to the Xarah system mentioned above or work as a stand alone solution. In the case with Xarah the AED will immediately be marked as tampered with when someone removes the AED. This is best solved with the AED in a cabinet and a door/window sensor to detect when the cabinet is opened. It can also be solved with a sensor behind the AED that detects when it is removed, but that is less accurate.

When this is set up there is an alarm generated whenever the AED is accessed by anyone. And those two small things will make sure the AED is functional at all times. Or at least as close to it as possible.

There are also connected AED's that connect via 3G, 4G or WiFi. That is a good thing since they in real time also can tell the status of the AED, but they are up to my knowledge all vertical solutions that not in an easy way can combine data from different vendors. With Xarah or similar systems combined with standard IoT like IoT Open you can not only monitor AED but also first-aid stations, life boats and buoys an other equipment as well. Xarah can also keep track of educations like CPR training and other mandatory training.

There are other products for this as well. Just make sure you know where the nearest AED is and that it is working!