Ten years of police defibrillation: program characteristics and personnel attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: In 1992,a study to evaluate the effectiveness of police defibrillation was initiated in seven suburban police departments. This paper describes the characteristics of those programs and the attitudes of chiefs and officers ten years after the commencement of that study.
METHODS: A 32-item survey instrument including questions on department demographics, defibrillation program characteristics, and attitudes was mailed to the chiefs. A separate 25-item survey was developed to assess officers' attitudes; a non-management officer distributed and collected these surveys anonymously. Responses are reported descriptively.
RESULTS: All seven chiefs and 78% of the officers completed surveys. Police arrive prior to emergency medical services on 80% or more of calls, with a mean +/- standard deviation response interval of 3.1 +/-1.7 minutes. All departments identify a program coordinator and six a medical director; three departments have a quality-improvement program. Five departments have liability coverage for the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), and no department reported any liability-related problems. Five of the chiefs and 82% of the officers disagreed or strongly disagreed that liability issues are a concern or a source of hesitation in using the AED. Ninety-six percent of the officers agreed or strongly agreed that police AED use is beneficial to cardiac arrest victims. All seven police chiefs and 89% of the officers agreed or strongly agreed that AED use by police is appropriate.
CONCLUSIONS: In these seven police departments with ten years of program experience, defibrillation has become integrated into the law-enforcement culture. Liability issues are not a prominent concern of chiefs or officers. Police chiefs and officers in these departments continue to support police-based defibrillation programs.