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ReneeC:As a Red Cross and American Heart instructor trainer "do not use an AED in the presence of flowing oxygen" is the rule.
skeet:I have never been taught to turn o2 off at time of defibrilation, more than likely in a dive resue scenario you will be outdoors so the excess o2 would be disapate even in a structure there would not be enough excess o2 to reach a critical flammable level.
texdiveguy:I have a question for you PSD whom have delt with this type of situation..... I will soon be finishing my DAN Diving Emergency Specialist (DES) rating,,,,which among many preq. courses you must have DAN O2 and DAN Adv. O2 plus AED certf. just to mention a few. **My question is when you have been adm. CPR and O2 via an oronasal mask to a patient and then an AED unit comes available,,,,,,do you need to remove the mask/O2 from the patient to adm. the AED shock to avoid explosion-fire,,,,,or is this not a threat? I feel I know the answer,,,,that being it poses no great danger,,in that it is done in ERs daily,,,,but I still want to cover myself just in case the "perfect world" setting with all the tools ever happens.
GentlemenFirefyter:(DISCLAIMER) Of course, you should always follow your training or local protocols.
Firefyter:Ok, boys and girls, quick Fire Science lesson. Oxygen is NOT flammable. Oxygen supports combustion, most things will not burn without the presence of oxygen. Excess oxygen will, however, accelerate the rate of combustion rapidly. A spark alone in an oxygen rich atmosphere is not going to cause an explosion. You can light a cigarette in an oxygen rich atmosphere and it will burn extremely fast, but it will not explode. The danger lies in the outside chance than an arc catches clothing, body hair, or some other object on fire. In this very rare outside chance, you would have a rapidly growing fire, not an explosion. All of this being said, I have applied AED pads several hundred times, and have never removed o2 from the patient. The miniscule chance that an arc is going to happen, combined with the even smaller chance that it will catch something on fire, is far outweighed by the patient's need for o2. (DISCLAIMER) Of course, you should always follow your training or local protocols.