Into the weekend...
Nov. 15th, 2008 07:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpAfter the flurry of calls yesterday morning, things settled down considerably. I sat in on a late afternoon training session on the use of the automated external defibrillator (AED), which also updated some of the info I had learned during a CPR class I took back in the 20th century.
Upon activation, the AED actually talks you through what you have to do, with periodic repetitions of "stay calm" that sounded to me, sitting comfortably in a television lounge sofa with no potentially dying person before me, more like "STAY CALM!!!!!
In any event, the machine started to plaintively and repeatedly request that pads be applied to the (presumed) victim when it could not sense some kind of closed circuit through its leads, the pads that are adhered to the skin of the victim's chest, and the victim's chest tissue. As we had no training pads - the session was not for certification - the machine was switched off and the rest of the session took place in an interactive format.
It turns out this seemingly dumb box has some fairly sophisticated smarts: once it detects it is connected to a person, it executes a pretty complex algorithm to determine whether defibrillation is called for, and if so, what parameters to set. The user's job is pretty much to stay clear and apply CPR when instructed. I hope I never need to use what I learned, but it's good to know it.
Today, I've got the morning duty, which principally means that I will interpret at the morning status review meeting and at any immediately subsequent discussions that arise from issues raised at the status meeting. To do so, however, assumes that I manage to catch the 8:30 am van, which will only happen if I turn to and Get Stuff Done™ around here in the next half hour.
Cheers...
Upon activation, the AED actually talks you through what you have to do, with periodic repetitions of "stay calm" that sounded to me, sitting comfortably in a television lounge sofa with no potentially dying person before me, more like "STAY CALM!!!!!
In any event, the machine started to plaintively and repeatedly request that pads be applied to the (presumed) victim when it could not sense some kind of closed circuit through its leads, the pads that are adhered to the skin of the victim's chest, and the victim's chest tissue. As we had no training pads - the session was not for certification - the machine was switched off and the rest of the session took place in an interactive format.
It turns out this seemingly dumb box has some fairly sophisticated smarts: once it detects it is connected to a person, it executes a pretty complex algorithm to determine whether defibrillation is called for, and if so, what parameters to set. The user's job is pretty much to stay clear and apply CPR when instructed. I hope I never need to use what I learned, but it's good to know it.
Today, I've got the morning duty, which principally means that I will interpret at the morning status review meeting and at any immediately subsequent discussions that arise from issues raised at the status meeting. To do so, however, assumes that I manage to catch the 8:30 am van, which will only happen if I turn to and Get Stuff Done™ around here in the next half hour.
Cheers...
