Hundreds of lives could be saved every year if GP surgeries were fitted with defibrillators and GPs were trained in how to use them, a new study has found.

A defibrillator is a device used to administer an electric shock to a person in cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest refers to the sudden loss of function of the heart. It occurs when there is an abrupt disturbance in the heart's rhythm. This can cause the heart to stop beating, or to stop beating enough to keep a person alive.

A person whose heart has stopped beating will fall unconscious and stop breathing normally. If the person does not get immediate medical assistance, sudden cardiac death will follow.

According to the Health Research Board (HRB), which funded the study, between three and five thousand people die every year in Ireland from sudden cardiac events that may not have been fatal if treated in time.

The five-year study saw 500 GPs being equipped with defibrillators. All were provided training on how to use the devices when dealing with sudden cardiac arrest caused by a heart complication known as ventricular fibrillation.
With ventricular fibrillation, the ventricles of the heart quiver ineffectively, producing no real heart beat and resulting in unconsciousness in the person. Brain damage and death can occur within minutes.

According to lead researcher, Prof Gerard Bury of UCD, while it is known how to fix ventricular fibrillation, this is ‘completely and utterly time dependent'.

"Nationally, survival rates for a sudden cardiac arrest if it happens out of hospital are one in 20. But this research shows that the availability and proper use of defibrillators by GPs, increases these survival rates three or four-fold," Prof Bury explained.

He noted that many of the positive results they had seen were ‘recorded in small towns and rural Ireland, where traditionally outcomes have been worse'.

The cost of the equipment and training would amount to around 4,000 per GP, however Prof Bury said that this cost should be seen as a ‘positive investment in terms of saving lives'.

"This sort of structured intervention and support, allied with the strength of general practice, can make a huge difference at local level. Every GP in the country needs a defibrillator," he insisted.

Details of this study are published in the HRB's Picture of Health 2012.