Sudden cardiac arrest is an uncommon event with high morbidity and mortality. There are improved outcomes with early access to an automated external defibrillator and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We assessed the availability of automated external defibrillators and emergency cardiac arrest plans in schools. A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted to determine the status of emergency cardiac arrest plans and automated external defibrillator presence. Most schools (88%) had access to an automated external defibrillator; however, trained staff and maintenance plans were highly variable. Automated external defibrillator availability did not differ by racial/ethnic or socio-economic composition; however, there was a relationship between number of automated external defibrillators and student population (p = 0.0030). The majority of schools either did not have (28%) or did not know if they had (36%) an emergency cardiac arrest plan. Even without state legislation, automated external defibrillators were largely available in schools. However, there remains a paucity of emergency cardiac arrest plans and automated external defibrillator maintenance plans.

心脏骤停是一种罕见事件，发病率和死亡率很高。尽早使用自动体外除颤器和心肺复苏可以改善预后。我们评估了学校自动体外除颤器和紧急心脏骤停计划的可用性。进行了横断面电子调查，以确定紧急心脏骤停计划和自动体外除颤器的状态。大多数学校 (88%) 都配备了自动体外除颤器；然而，训练有素的工作人员和维护计划差异很大。自动体外除颤器的可用性不因种族/族裔或社会经济构成而异；然而，自动体外除颤器的数量与学生人数之间存在相关性（p = 0.0030）。大多数学校要么没有（28%），要么不知道是否有（36%）紧急心脏骤停计划。即使没有州立法，自动体外除颤器也基本上在学校中使用。然而，紧急心脏骤停计划和自动体外除颤器维护计划仍然很少。