A defibrillator is the only asset on your register that you buy hoping never to use - and that is precisely why AED tracking fails. Every other machine announces its problems: the printer jams, the autoclave throws an error, someone complains. An AED hangs silently on a wall while its pads dry out and its battery fades, and the failure is discovered at the single worst moment imaginable. Whether you look after two units in a clinic or forty across a campus, the job is the same: know where every unit is, prove it is checked, and replace pads and batteries before their dates, not after.
What you will learn
- Why AED registers go stale
- Building the register
- The monthly check
- Labelling and the scan habit
- Pads, batteries and replacement planning
- Keeping the register alive
- FAQ
Why AED registers go stale
AEDs have a distinctive failure pattern: they are bought in a burst of good intent, mounted, listed in a document - and then nothing happens for years. Specifically:
- No natural touchpoint. Laptops get handed over and medical equipment follows patients around a building - AEDs just hang there. With no workflow touching the device, no workflow updates the record.
- Responsibility by committee. The unit was bought by health and safety, mounted by facilities, and is checked by whoever remembers. When everyone owns it, no one does.
- Consumables age invisibly. The unit looks identical the day the pads expire. Without recorded dates, the only warning is the status indicator - if someone is looking at it.
- Sites multiply, the list does not. A second office, a sports hall, a warehouse - each gets a unit, and the original list quietly stops being complete.
Building the register
An AED record is shorter than most equipment records, but two fields - location and expiry dates - need unusual precision:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Asset ID | One unit looks exactly like another - the ID is how checks and orders stay unambiguous |
| Make and model | Pads and batteries are model-specific; ordering the wrong ones is easy |
| Serial number | Needed for warranty, servicing and manufacturer field-safety notices |
| Exact location | ”Reception, wall cabinet left of the lift” - this register doubles as the where-is-the-nearest-AED answer |
| Pad expiry date | The gel degrades; expired pads can mean no effective shock |
| Battery expiry / install date | The other silent failure - record it when fitted, not from memory |
| Spare pads held | A used unit must return to readiness immediately, which takes spares on site |
| Last check date and result | The evidence the unit was ready - and the gap detector when checks lapse |
| Purchase date, price, warranty end | Replacement budgeting, and free repairs while covered |
The monthly check
The check itself takes two minutes per unit. The system around it is what needs designing:
- Name an owner and a deputy per unit. Diffused responsibility is the root cause of every neglected AED.
- Standardise the check: status indicator shows ready, pads in date and sealed, battery in date, cabinet undamaged, signage in place, spares present.
- Log every check against the unit, with date, name and result. The log is the difference between “we check them” and being able to show a month-by-month history when an incident review or insurer asks.
- Treat a failed check as a fault to fix now, not a note for next month - swap pads from spares, order replacements, and record the unit’s status honestly until it is ready again.
Tip: after any real use, the unit needs pads replaced, the battery assessed and the device confirmed ready - log it as its own event, not as part of the monthly cycle. A used AED that quietly goes back on the wall is a unit in unknown condition.
Labelling and the scan habit
AEDs and their cabinets are already covered in green-and-white rescue signage; your label has a different job - connecting the physical unit to its record:
- Put a QR label with the asset ID inside the cabinet or on the unit’s underside, never over the manufacturer’s instructions, serial plate or the rescue signage people follow in an emergency.
- Scanning replaces the clipboard. The monthly check becomes: scan the label with a phone, see the unit’s record, update the check date and result on it and report any issues on the spot. No paper form to lose, no transcription later.
- Durable stock, as always. Outdoor and vehicle-mounted units need labels that survive weather and vibration.
Pads, batteries and replacement planning
Consumables are where AED programmes quietly fail, so plan them like stock:
- Record expiry dates at install and at every replacement. Reading them off the units across five sites every time you wonder is not a system.
- Review the expiry list on a fixed rhythm and order ahead, so replacements arrive before dates lapse rather than after.
- Keep model-specific spares mapped to units. Pads are not interchangeable across brands; the register’s make-and-model field is what stops the wrong order.
- Budget batteries like the capital item they nearly are. They are expensive enough that surprise replacements across a whole estate hurt; expiry dates across the register give you next year’s number in advance.
This is the same expiry-driven discipline that medical clinics apply to emergency drugs - the AED register just extends it to hardware.
Keeping the register alive
A spreadsheet AED register has all the right columns and one fatal property: it lives on a computer, and the AEDs live on walls. The monthly check generates a paper tick-sheet, the transcription never happens, and within a year the register says nothing trustworthy about pad dates or check history.
AMPthilly keeps the record on the wall, in effect. Each AED gets a profile with serial, location, photos and custom fields for pad and battery expiry dates and the last check; the printable QR label inside the cabinet opens that profile in any phone browser - no app install - so fresh dates go straight onto the record where the unit hangs, and a problem found during the check is reported as a ticket tied to the unit, with photos. The audit history keeps every field edit, status change and ticket permanently. The free plan covers 3 users and 25 assets, which for many organisations fits the entire AED estate on the register - no card required; the service desk that turns failed checks into tickets arrives with the Starter tier. See /features/ for what the paid tiers add.
FAQ
How often should AEDs be checked? Monthly visual checks per unit, a full check after any use, plus the manufacturer’s specified routine - and every check logged against the unit.
What should an AED register include? ID, make/model, serial, exact location, pad and battery expiry dates, spares held, last check and result, purchase and warranty details.
Do AED pads and batteries expire? Both. Record the dates at install and replacement, and review the list regularly so orders go in before expiry.
How do you keep track of AEDs across multiple sites? One shared register, one ID per unit, a named owner per site, and QR labels so local checks land in the central record.
Who should be responsible for AED checks? One named person per unit, with a deputy. The inspection log shows whether the routine is real.
The takeaway
AED tracking is not about movement - the units barely move. It is about proving readiness: a register with exact locations and expiry dates, a named owner per unit, a logged monthly check, and consumables ordered ahead of their dates. Build that, and the one device you hope never to use is the one you can be surest of.