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Lifeguard AED Training
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Lifeguard AED training covers the same device everyone else uses, with one difference that matters: your casualty just came out of the water.
What does lifeguard AED training teach about a wet casualty?
Move clear of standing water. Get the casualty off a wet deck or out of a puddle. The device will not shock through you, but standing water spreads current where it is not wanted.
Dry the chest. Pads do not adhere to wet skin, and a film of water across the chest can carry the shock over the surface instead of through the heart. Towel the pad areas briskly.
Do not stop compressions to dry. One rescuer dries and applies while the other keeps compressing. Compressions pause only for analysis and shock.
Remove obvious obstacles. A medication patch in a pad area comes off, with gloves. Excessive chest hair may need the spare pads used as a wax strip. Metal jewellery goes clear of the pad sites.
Clear before the shock. Look and say it: nobody touching the casualty, including the person on the airway.
Resume compressions immediately after. Do not wait to see whether it worked.
Implanted devices and pad placement
A pacemaker or implanted defibrillator shows as a hard lump under the skin, usually below the collarbone. Place the pad at least an inch clear of it. Standard anterior-lateral placement otherwise, and front-to-back for infants.
Equipment checks are part of the job
Lifeguard AED training includes the opening check: status indicator green, pads in date and sealed, a spare set present, battery in date, and the razor and towel in the kit. An AED that fails at the moment of use is a check that was not done.
AEDs and drowning
Most drowning arrests are not shockable rhythms, because the cause is hypoxia rather than a cardiac electrical event. The AED is still applied every time, because the cases where it is shockable are the ones with the best survival odds.
Lifeguard aed training: frequently asked questions
How does lifeguard AED training differ from standard AED training?
Lifeguard AED training covers using the device on a casualty pulled from water: moving clear of standing water, drying the chest so pads adhere and the shock is not carried across the skin, and doing both without pausing compressions.
Can you use an AED on someone who is wet?
Yes. Move them out of standing water and dry the pad areas, then use it normally. One rescuer dries and applies while the other continues compressions.
Is a drowning casualty usually shockable?
Often not, because the arrest is hypoxic rather than a cardiac electrical event. The AED is applied every time anyway, since the shockable cases have the best survival odds.
Reviewed by Jackie Stern, Lifeguard Instructor, Firefighter and EMT. Jackie Stern has taught lifeguarding for more than 20 years and works as a firefighter, EMT and swim instructor. She reviews course content, prerequisites and rescue standards against current certification requirements.
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