SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1554

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 20, 1996

      The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1554.

      This bill amends P.L.1989, c.314 (G.26:2K-39 et seq.), which provides for the certification of emergency medical technicians as EMT-D's to perform cardiac defibrillation, to permit first-responding emergency personnel, including police and firefighters, to be certified as First Responder-D's who would perform cardiac defibrillation on the same basis as EMT-D's.

      Early defibrillation has become the standard of care for patients with prehospital or in-hospital cardiac arrest, and the availability of automated external defibrillators (AED's) has broadened the range of people with the capability of performing cardiac defibrillation. This bill will expand the number of persons who may provide cardiac defibrillation services to traffic accident victims or other emergency care patients. Cardiac defibrillation was once a skill reserved for emergency care providers trained in all aspects of advanced cardiac life support; however, it is now often performed by personnel with less training who are able to use AED's which makes early defibrillation practical and achievable for many more people than before. AED's were conceived as devices that would be used by emergency personnel and by family members and associates of people at high risk of sudden cardiac death. This bill recognizes the need for police and fire personnel to be able to use these devices, because they are often the first persons to respond to someone in cardiac arrest, when early defibrillation is critical.

      This bill is identical to Senate Bill No. 1076 (Sinagra), which the committee also reported favorably on this date.