Should My Child Keep A Defibrillator At School?

— -- Question: I have a child diagnosed with a heart rhythm problem, should I have his teachers keep a defibrillator at school?

Answer :If your child has been diagnosed with a rhythm disturbance, it may be important to have an automatic external defibrillator or AED available at his or her school. Most high schools in the United States do have these available right now, but they're really only used for children who have life-threatening arrhythmias. If your child has a more common form of arrhythmia, either early beats that are coming from the atrium or the ventricle or supraventricular tachycardia or SVT, those types of rhythm disturbances will not be helped by an automatic external defibrillator. AEDs are used for life-threatening arrhythmias so it's very important for you to check with your pediatric cardiologist to ensure that your child would be helped by an automatic external defibrillator.