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Cardiac Arrest on the Links: Are We Up to Par? Availability of Automated External Defibrillators on Golf Courses in Southeastern Pennsylvania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

John Lucas ,
A. Alex Davila ,
Kevin N. Waninger  and
Michael Heller
John Lucas
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
A. Alex Davila
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Kevin N. Waninger*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA Department of Family Practice, Saint Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Michael Heller
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
*
Kevin N. Waninger, MD, MS Saint Luke's Hospital 2830 Easton Avenue Bethlehem, PA 18017-3560 USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objectives:

A growing number of golfers are senior citizens, and it may be predicted that the number of golf-related medical emergencies, including the incidence of cardiac arrest, will increase. This study was designed to survey the level of preparedness of golf courses in Southeastern Pennsylvania to respond to cardiac arrest among their members.

Methods:

A telephone survey of all of the 180 golf courses in the area was conducted to determine their type (public/private), volume in rounds per year, presence of automated external defibrillator (AED) devices, number of employees, and percentage of employees with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. Participants also were asked to estimate the time needed to reach the farthest point on their course in order to estimate a maximum time to the application of an AED device.

Results:

A total of 131 of 180 golf courses completed the survey (53 private, 78 public) for an overall response rate of 73%. Private courses reported a greater average number of employees with CPR training [private = 9.1, public = 3.6; p = 0.001] and in AED presence [public = 9%, private = 58.5%; p = 0.0001]. Public courses support a higher volume of play than do private courses [public = 32,000, private = 24,000; p = 0.001], yet have far fewer employees [public = 25, private = 44; p = 0.004]. The longest time necessary to reach the most remote point on the course was between four and five minutes in all courses. Analysis was performed using the Student's t-test and Pearson's Chi-square as appropriate.

Conclusion:

Neither public nor private golf courses are well equipped to respond to cardiac arrest, but outcomes on public courses likely are to be far worse.

Keywords

advanced cardiac life support (ACLS)automated external defibrillator (AED)cardiac arrestemergency medical services (EMS)golfpublic access defibrillation
Type
Brief Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 112 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2006

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