Cardiac Science has begun shipping its news Powerheart G3 Plus, a CPR-enhanced addition to the Powerheart automated external defibrillator platform designed for the public access defibrillation market in the U.S. and abroad.
The G3 Plus is intended for public places such as school buildings, shopping malls, private homes (with a doctor's prescription) and corporate offices — any environment in which the first response to a victim of sudden cardiac arrest is likely to be provided by a layperson with little or no training. Its Rescue Coach voice prompts guide the less experienced rescuer through the steps of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation with calm, direct and comprehensive instructions, featuring, for instance, a metronome to help the rescuer perform chest compressions at the proper tempo.
The Rescue Coach voice prompts are consistent with the latest 2005 American Heart Association guidelines for CPR, and are currently available in United States English, United Kingdom English, Australian English, German and Dutch.
The device is also equipped with other key specs found on the popular Powerheart G3, G3 Automatic and G3 Pro AEDs, including easy-to-use features, RescueReady reliability technology, RHYTHMx analysis software, and STAR biphasic defibrillation energy waveform.
"Cardiac Science conducted a behavioral study in 2005 to determine how people interpret and take direction from voice prompts during a stressful event," said Garry Norris, vice president for marketing. "We based the design of the instructive prompts for the G3 Plus on the results of this study. The system's voice prompts guide the rescuer through the steps of CPR with a direct but reassuring tone intended to keep the rescuer calm and focused while attempting the save — which is a very stressful event."