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ZOLL AED
Creative. Innovative. Practical. All words that came
to mind when we examined the ZOLL
AED Plus. It was an effort in itself just finding
even the most diminutive of flaws. We were pleased
to find that we failed in finding any faults of significant
importance in this product. All that really stood
out was that the ZOLL AED Plus might not be the most
financially efficient for those who would use an AED
often. This particular AED is really designed to be
used easily by somebody with not so much experience.
Nevertheless, even the most highly trained officials
can panic under pressure and the ZOLL AED Plus offers
them the support they need. It doesn't matter what your profession is there are always times when you may
feel a level of pressure. You could be a bingo caller and sometimes feel the
strain when calling for Games of Bingo or you could be a vet and feel stressed
during important surgery. Therefore it is really essential, particularly in the
medical profession to have equipment that will help you keep calm and perform
properly. The ZOLL AED Plus does thisIt can also be configured
to skip certain steps if an ALS responder is the primary
user of the unit, which can save precious seconds.
The biggest issues with ZOLL’s units don’t really
relate to the product itself but more with the company’s
transition from distributing to hospitals to distributing
to the public. ZOLL’s previous conservative credit
terms and rigid attitude from within the organization
when communicating with distributors by January 2004
seem to have work itself out.
However, distributors still have significant restrictions
in distributing to police, fire and EMS; due to direct
sales initiatives and such restrictions are getting
worse with Zoll's attempts to build a big internal
sales staff while Cardiac Science and other manufacturers
are cutting back internal efforts and expanding their
distributor network.
What they don't seem to understand is that it is
impossible to build a big distribution network and
and internal sales network at the same time. Another
issue with Zoll is that although they sell the most
sophisticated Hospital Grade Defibrillator-Zoll M
Series (the kind with paddles that requires a paramedic,
nurse or physician to operate), they refuse to sell
through distributors.
Because of this they are quickly losing market share
to competitors who see the opportunity like Cardiac
Science who is coming to market with their own Hospital
Grade Defibrillator and are selling through distributors.
We know of one Zoll AED distributor that turns away
hundreds of potential sales per month because they
don't have product to sell and with the increase in
Community Based Heath Initiatives with clinics, surgical
centers and nurse practitioner staffing; the need
for Hospital Grade Defibrillators is increasing dramatically.
If Zoll were to market it's M Series through current
distributors we imagine that sales would increase
30% in the first year for the M Series. Since it is
the medical professionals that also advise the community
on which type of AED to purchase with increased saturation
of the M Series (probably the most sophisticated Hospital
Grade Defibrillator on the market); the AED Plus would
significantly benefit from the exposure, since it
uses the same technology.
ZOLL’s AED gets 1st Place Award
from Product Design and Development
& “Best Rated AED”
ZOLL seems to have employed the same thorough approach
to building an AED as they put into building their
M-Series which has been the leader in defibrillators
in use in the best teaching hospitals around the world.
ZOLL conducted intensive focus studies among EMS personnel
prior to launching its AED product.
The ZOLL’s AED Plus has more unique features then
any of the other AED's we evaluated. The most impressive
of these features are those that focus on the CPR
portion of resuscitating a patient. ZOLL provides
a step-by-step prompt, guiding its user through the
CPR process.
The lid of the AED double-acts as a head tilt chin
lift, opening the patient’s airway while the resuscitation
process is in effect. Most inexperienced users are
too timid while performing the chest compressions
of CPR. The ZOLL AED Plus has a CPR puck strategically
placed between the convenient one piece electrodes
that provides constant feedback to the rescuer on
compression depth and rate.
The AED Plus provides you with audio reassurance
that the compression depth being applied is sufficient
or if you need to “Push Harder.” The AED Plus also
provides the rescuer with an adaptive metronome which
gradually increases speed to bring the rescuer up
to the proper amount of compressions per minute.
The one piece electrode system; which fits 99% of
patients helps the user to avoid misplacing the electrode
pads and can be adapted by pulling the pin on the
apex electrode and placing appropriately on the larger
patient.
ZOLL’s One Piece Pad System Coaches Rescuer through
CPR Compressions
There are many more advantages to using the ZOLL
AED Plus. The picture instruction prompt coincides
with the audio prompt making it accessible for use
to the hearing impaired or those who are having trouble
hearing due to loud noises and commotion which usually
comes hand and hand with emergency.
The user friendly device uses consumer type 123 lithium
batteries. This makes it possible to buy new batteries
at a fraction of the price of ZOLL’s competitors.
The battery system only uses half the batteries it
has stored so if something goes wrong with a few of
them, there are backups already in place.
Among the most impressive of qualities was the creative
design of the electrode pads. Not only the extremely
efficient one piece design, but the easy pull system
which was the only pads that could be readied for
use extremely fast without fumbling with the adhesive
gel on the pads.
It’s because of ZOLL’s extensive and careful planning
and out of the box thinking that won them an award
from a well respected medical review organization
that totally flipped out when we disclosed their findings
on our site (we had to remove their name).
Needless to say as a result of our studies, we also
rank the ZOLL AED Plus to be the all around best AED
on the market. ZOLL prevails in the areas of user
friendliness, reasonable pricing, safety and effort
towards improvement.
PASS Cover Slides under Shoulders of Patient
to create Patent Airway
Individually Installed Consumer Batteries Creates
Significant
Redundancy for defective batteries in Water Tight
Sealed Compartment
We hope in the future to see software
upgrades that include a built in training feature
to the live unit; that automatically detects training
pads allowing consumers to not invest in separate
training unit; a few different color choices so we
can match the unit to our office decor; a backpack
carrier; a car trunk mount.
Buy
ZOLL AED Now
CONCLUSIONS:
It seems obvious that an essential search to purchase
an Automated External Defibrillator should be among
the viable contenders and that could only include
the manufacturers that are adequately financed to
assume all the responsibilities associated with manufacturing
a medical device. Although attractively priced HeartSine’s
Samaritan AED and Access CardioSystem’s AED can not
seriously be considered because they just don’t have
the money to play in the game.
Welch Allyn; ZOLL AED, Cardiac Science and Philips
Corporation all have fairly deep pockets and in our
opinion manufacture high quality AED units. However,
there scaled down consumer models in the $1300-$2000
range have some very obvious short comings. We do
NOT like ANY of the @ home models we've reviewed;
stick with the more reliable public access models.
But for the consumers who simply want to comply with
local protocol without regard to the obvious liability
of using a unit that might not function on a snowy
sidewalk or survive a fall from 3 feet; these units
will suffice.
Some units comply with requirement to
have an AED
Of these manufacturers one manufacturer clearly stands
out in the crowd; ZOLL Medical. Although we had concerns
about consumers getting product in a timely fashion
because of restrictive credit terms Gestapo collection
techniques placed upon distributors; they seem to
have rectified this issue as of January 2004. concerns
with not making M series available through distributors
seems to be more of a internal management turf issue
not at all related to product quality--hopefully internal
distribution issues does not interfere with product
production and quality control in the future- we'll
keep our eyes open.
Our research indicates that ZOLL conducted extensive
research utilizing 1 ½ years of focus studies
where senior management interviewed countless professionals
in EMS, Police & Fire whom had used AED’s in a
professional setting and had concerns. ZOLL not only
listened to these concerns but integrated a response
to these concerns in their ZOLL AED Plus unit, it
was about time that someone listened.
Concerns that
professionals had were as follows:
a) PAD PLACEMENT—incorrect pad
placement by 1st Responders—ZOLL created “one
piece pads” eliminating incorrect pad placement
and pads sticking to rescuer’s gloved hands. While
teach AED use in one of my recent classes I noticed
that many students put two piece pads in the wrong
place even through they were clearly marked (I
guess they were nervous---caught up in the moment-perhaps
not too different from a real life situation?
ZOLL also rocked the industry by creating the
longest life pads—4 years;
b) CPR COMPRESSIONS—disturbing
confusion exhibited by just about all first time
1st Responders that performed CPR (ribs separating
from sternum)—ZOLL introduced “Compression Puck”
that measures depth and rate of CPR compressions
and provides verbal feedback and assurance that
CPR is performed correctly;
c) PATENT AIRWAY—patients suffocating
after heart is revived by improper or no airway
management by 1st Responders—ZOLL created the
“PASS” (Passive Airway Support System) for their
unit, which utilizes the unit’s cover to slide
under the patient’s shoulder blades, thus creating
a patent airway;
d) WATER RESISTANCE Although
NO known accidents have occurred where a unit
got wet and caused a fire to start or a rescuer
to be injured or killed, it was an accident waiting
to happen by the fact that NO AED manufacturer
provided protection for rescuer’s by incorporating
significant water resistance—ZOLL rather than
wait for the inevitable and demonstrate the industry’s
norm of willful ignorance integrated by far the
most resistance AED to water;
e) HEARING IMPAIRED—where an
elderly person attempted to utilize an AED on
a mate or fellow patient they were frequently
hard of hearing and misunderstood the voice prompts—ZOLL
integrated illuminated pictures for each portion
of the rescue that guide children, the hard of
hearing and the elderly on proper use of their
AED;
f) PEDIATRIC PADS—although it
almost never happens that an infant develops Sudden
Cardiac Arrest as a result of anything but obstructed
airway in which case the airway must be cleared
before reviving the heart, many politically minded
companies utilizing scare tactics rushed to the
table and offering Pediatric Pads for an AED.
In fact the American Heart Association’s position
on CPR instructors teaching AED use on an infant
“optional”.
We find selecting an AED to use on infants ridiculous,
of the EMS and emergency nursing staff interviewed
none thought an AED purchase for use on an infant
was warranted. However, with that in mind all
the manufacturers are addressing the political
issue of pediatric pads. The position that most
manufacturers have taken is that since the unit
would most likely not be used on an infant not
much money would be invested in development; therefore
the only modification we were able to determine
was that the amount of joules administered to
the patient was decreased by using a resister.
This may seem like a viable alternative but in
the rare case of an infant actually needing a
defibrillator from an extreme fall or electric
shock such an alternative of limiting the joules
might seem like a viable option but when interviewing
ZOLL’s employees we discovered the obvious; that
infants have different body composition than adults
and require not only less joules but a different
wave form specifically developed for infant’s
muscle, tissue and bone density—ZOLL’s pediatric
pads (expected January 2004) are the only pads
to address the infant’s unique body structure.
g) MONOPHASIC vs BIPHASIC—when
defibrillation started 500 joules was the standard;
folks quickly discovered that stopping the heart
from quivering was only part of the problem--
keeping the patient alive after successfully defibrillating
the heart was a greater concern; with that in
mind folks discovered that few survived shocks
of greater than 360 joules.
In recent years it was discovered that changing
to biphasic would enable the majority of patients
to actually survive with energy levels not exceeding
200 joules. Personally I go with what the guys
who have much more experience in these areas than
I do; Harvard University recently switched to
Zoll's Biphasic AED. It is kind of like cooking...
Everyone knows that if you turn up the heat things
cook quickly.. Keep your eye on the ball.
h) UPDATING OPERATING SYSTEM—every
AED utilizes complex computerized operating systems.
When Windows 95 was developed everyone was certain
that no future systems would be needed; and then
came Windows 98; then came Windows 2000; then
came Windows ME; then came Windows XP. Zoll's
is the only operating system that we know of that
allows a user to update it. Maybe not a big deal—but
if the American Heart Association decides that
every AED should give it's first shock at 50 joules
and continue on from there—every unit would need
to be retrofitted by it's manufacturer—except
Zoll's. If you ever needed to reload Windows operating
system, download patches or updated drivers; you'll
understand the importance of being able to update
your AED.
i) CONSUMER BATTERIES vs.
MEDICAL BATTERIES—where batteries
sometimes died unexpectedly by being exposed to
extreme temperatures and moisture, rescuers were
at the mercy of the AED companies for proprietary
batteries and forced to stock multiple high priced
batteries ($195.00 - $350.00)—ZOLL integrated
consumer lithium batteries manufactured by companies
that actually know what they are doing. ZOLL’s
unit utilizes 10 separately installed consumer
batteries that provide tremendous redundancy because
up to 5 batteries can die and the unit still remains
functional.
The cost of replacement batteries for ZOLL’s
unit when searching the Internet was just $25
for all ten batteries. It used to be that "Medical"
batteries were much much better than any consumer
battery but with the advent and proliferation
of digital cameras—this is no longer the case,
no one makes a better battery than a consumer
lithium battery;
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Not only did ZOLL make considerable improvements
to the units on the market they changed the
playing field, they did so by introducing
a product that was approximately $1000 less
than competitive models.
The other manufacturers have begun to respond
with Philips developing a one-piece pad system
(due to market 2nd quarter 2004) and manufacturers
developing a consumer model that is a scaled
down version of their EMS model but none seems
to be able to deliver the same bang for the
buck that ZOLL has.
This is all good. It seems that Zoll has
set the standard for AED development and we
look forward to the response by other manufacturers
in the 2nd quarter of 2004.
NEW
STUDY BY HARVARD UNIVERSITY Rates Zoll's
AED Easiest to use by lay rescuers.
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Zoll AED Specifics:
Picture the Entire Rescue
in One Device
When sudden collapse occurs, successful resuscitation
involves far more than pushing a button to deliver
a shock. Rescuers must recall all their training to
save a life. That's why rescuers want more than just
a defibrillator. From ABC assessment to defibrillation
and CPR, the ZOLL AED Plus is the first and only AED
that guides rescuers through the entire rescue process.
A Complete Resuscitation
Roadmap
A picture is worth a thousand words, so the ZOLL AED
Plus uses a brilliant new graphical/voice user interface
to help the rescuer every step of the way. It's a
confidence-building coach at a moment of critical
importance, helping the rescuer do the most important
things, and do them well.
Audio and Visual Coaching
The AED Plus's CPR Feedback is unique. Audio and visual
cues help prevent the two most common errors of CPR:
inadequate depth and inadequate rate.The AED Plus
delivers voice prompts like "press harder" or "good
compression" while its adaptive metronome leads the
rescuer to the recommended 100 compression-per-minute
rate.
An Electrode Pad with a Sensitive
Side
The world's only one-piece electrode pads (CPR-D Padz)
eliminate placement mistakes. Only the ZOLL AED Plus
helps the rescuer perform CPR. A sensor on the CPR-D
Padz tracks the rescuer's compression depth and rate
as soon as CPR begins.
Long-lasting Consumer Batteries
for Convenience and Savings
The ZOLL AED Plus runs on inexpensive, consumer "retail"
lithium batteries. On average, batteries will provide
thirty shocks after two years of automatic self tests.
The ZOLL AED Plus
For all the features that set it apart from other
AEDs, the ZOLL AED Plus hasn't sacrificed any of the
hallmarks of ZOLL durability, advanced technology,
quality and value.
The AED Plus is Fully Configurable
From ECG all the way to the sequences of
the user interface.
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