Advisory External Defibrillator Availability in General Practice.

This study aimed to describe the availability of advisory external defibrillators (AEDs) in Irish General Practice. The study utilised a computer generated random sample of Irish general practitioners and involved a postal questionnaire, with telephone follow up of non-responders. The cohort of GPs already known to possess an AED (via participation in the Merit Project) was excluded. 115 valid paper survey responses were received representing a response rate of 59%. 5 of the responding GPs identified themselves as Merit project participants and were excluded from data analysis. 74/110 GPs (67%) reported having one or more AED(s) available for use at their practice. 41/77 GPs (53%) who had not responded to the paper survey but were contactable by telephone had an AED available. When AED availability was examined by practice setting a higher proportion of rural and mixed settings had AEDs available than in urban and city areas. Cost was reported as the most common reason for not having an AED.