Wednesday November 9, 2005
Donut Magnets

If encountered with a situation where patient's AICD (Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) continue to fire inappropriately causing hemodynamic issues or mostly when during or after the 'code', AICD needs to be deactivated - ask for "Donut Magnets" ONLY as other regular magnets may not work. Put donut magnet directly over AICD. Once AICD deactivated you may hear a long beep(s) but important thing is to keep magnet there and tape it firmly till seen by cardiology. Its important, if patient fails cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, to deactivate AICD, confirm underlying asystole/rhythm before calling off the code.

See sample of ems driven AICD deactivation protocol - from scdhec.gov