Which patient condition may require the use of an AED?

When considering the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), it's essential to focus on conditions that involve a rapid, life-threatening cardiac emergency. Cardiac arrest without palpable pulses indicates that the heart is either not beating effectively or has stopped beating altogether. In this scenario, the victim is unresponsive and not breathing normally, which necessitates immediate intervention to restore a normal rhythm.

An AED is designed to analyze the heart's rhythm and determine if a shock is necessary to correct life-threatening arrhythmias like ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia. When there are no palpable pulses, it signifies that effective circulation has ceased, making defibrillation a potentially lifesaving step to try to re-establish a functional heart rhythm.

In contrast, the other conditions listed either do not involve immediate life-threatening cardiac rhythms that would require an AED or are not characterized by a lack of effective cardiac function. For example, stable angina involves episodes of chest pain due to insufficient oxygen to the heart but does not indicate an immediate cardiac arrest scenario. Similarly, cardiac arrest with effective pulses suggests some level of cardiac activity, which means an AED would not be necessary as it is not within the appropriate circumstance for its use. Lastly, while a pulmonary embol