Cardiac arrest in medical and dental practices: implications for automated external defibrillators.

BACKGROUND To determine the need for placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in medical and dental practices, we identified cardiac arrests at these locations. METHODS Locations of cardiac arrest were abstracted from Emergency Medical Services data from January 1, 1990, through December 31, 1996. We calculated the annual incidence of cardiac arrest per type of practice. RESULTS There were 142 cardiac arrests in medical or dental practices. Dialysis centers had a relatively high incidence of cardiac arrest (>/=0.746 per practice annually). Cardiology, internal and family medicine, and urgent care centers had a medium incidence (>/=0.01 per practice annually). All other medical and dental practices had a low incidence (</=0.002 annually). CONCLUSIONS Placement of 779 AEDs in the high- and medium-incidence practices would have provided treatment for 112 patients with cardiac arrest in 7 years. To provide for the 16 cardiac arrests in low-incidence practices, an additional 1928 AEDs would be required.