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Sarah Pressman Lovinger, MD

JAMA. 2002;288:2952.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In a perfect world, someone who collapses in a busy airport would receive immediate attention from a quick-thinking bystander who activates the emergency medical services (EMS) system and then grabs one of the automated external defibrillators (AEDs) placed throughout the airport. This bystander, perhaps, or a physician, or an untrained good samaritan, would use the device to apply electric shock to the individual's heart. The affected person would then convert to sinus rhythm and become stabilized just as an ambulance arrived.

But the optimal use of emergency medical care to treat sudden cardiac death has not yet been perfected. As Joseph Ornato, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, stated recently, "Our ability to save more of the 460 000 Americans who die from sudden death each year is greatly dependent on our ability to translate many of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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