Hands Off! Stand Clear for Defib

Hands-on defibrillation minimizes pauses in cardiac compressions. But are rescuers who use this technique at risk for exposure to electric shock? To find out, investigators obtained voltage measurements while rescuers performed defibrillation on cadavers.

Rescuers were exposed to between 200 and 827 volts, depending on the cadaver and electrode location, and received between 1 and 8 joules of electrical energy, an amount that exceeds recommended exposure levels.