While the National University of Singapore is installing Automated External Defibrillators across the campus and its satellite facilities to enhance campus safety, some students have raised concerns about the use of such AEDs during emergencies by untrained personnel.

“Within the last three months, we have purchased about close to 50 sets and installed in NUS campus, BTC (Bukit Timah Campus), as well as the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School,” said Yam Guan Shyh, head of the emergency management division at the Office of Safety, Health and Environment.

“Plus, we are going to install one more in Sembawang, the NUS animal holding unit, where they kept all the animals for experiments, for the lab uses in NUS,” he said, adding that each AED supports a particular zone consisting of a single building or a cluster of buildings.

Yam said his emergency management division recognized the need to install the AEDs even before the recent reports of cardiac-related deaths, including that of 17-year old Thaddeus Cheong, a national triathlete who collapsed after completing a trial race in August for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

According to him, anybody is authorized to use the AED to revive a person who has collapsed by administering an electric current to the heart.

“This defillibrator is actually for public use. That’s why they are installed at publicly accessible areas,” said Yam, while pointing out each AED set comes with comprehensive visual and aural instructions to guide responders in using the defibrillator.

“If you have not used it before, you still can follow the voice prompt of the machine,” he said. “There is also a LCD screen giving instructions.”

Yam said the AED would automatically analyze the person’s condition and determine whether an electric shock should be administered, when the pads are placed on the victim.

“If it’s (properly administered), the voice prompt will tell people to stand clear, to (take their) hand(s) off the patient, and the AED will deliver the charge automatically, after giving ample warning to the surrounding people,” he said.

The AEDs, which cost around $3,300 each, also each come with an alarm system, which would serve to deter theft when activated.

When activated during an emergency, it could also serve to alert passersby to assist the responder either by calling for medical help or medical professionals who happen to be in the area to render medical assistance. 

However, students interviewed said the benefits of installing the AEDs are limited by the lack of awareness of the AEDs and their uses.

“It's not useful now, because I believe (the) majority of population in school doesn’t know what it is or how to use it correctly,” said Ho Yiling, a real estate undergraduate student in her fourth year.

“I don’t how to use it. I'll just do my CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation),” she said of the AED, adding she believes that any misuse may result in death.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force website defines CPR as a life-saving technique involving a combination of mouth-to-mouth respiration and manual chest compressions.

Samantha Tan, a second-year marketing student, agreed with Ho.

“I think we would need to have campaigns to raise the awareness level and teach people how to use it,” Tan said. “Otherwise, they (AEDs) would be useless, as people don’t know about them or don’t dare to use them.”

According to Yam, currently only staff members of the buildings where the AEDs are installed are trained in using them. He added that training sessions by the supplier are periodically available.

“It’s a user familiarization and training program,” he said. “We actually encourage the faculty or the unit to allow the students to join.”

Readers may contact Yam at 6516-1290 for more information on the AEDs.