LifePak Series from Physio-Control

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Background

The beginning of LifePak

In 1968 Physio-Control released it’s “90 day wonder” the LifePak 33 portable defibrillator. This defibrillator would launch a series of models that would change the way pre-hospital care was delivered forever. By 1967, Physio-Control, founded by Seattle surgeon Dr. Karl Edmark, had a decade of work into designing and developing defibrillation units to be used in hospitals to respond to sudden cardiac events in the hospital wards. Dr. Edmark worked to develop a unit that would detect the patient’s heartbeat as well as deliver a life stimulating DC charge to jump start the heart in the event of an emergency. In 1961 the first successful DC defibrillation took place with Dr. Edmarks “Breadboard” pulse defibrillator. This event charted a course for Dr. Edmark and his company into the future.

By 1968, Physio-Control was one of the leading innovators in the field of defibrillator development. The LifePak 33 was the first of a long line of LifePak defibrillators and was the first truly portable and stand alone defibrillator and integrated monitor. What is really remarkable about the LifePak 33 is that it was conceived, designed, developed and tested in three months, making it one of the fastest produced medical devise on the market at the time.

LifePak 33 was named as a nod to the 33 pound target weight for the unit, with other companies quickly closing the ranks on portable defibrillators “it was all about marketing” when the product launched and the 33 pound unit became a standard issue in many services across the country.

The 1970‘s and ’80’s - A boom in innovation

On the success of the LifePak33, Physio-Control continued to innovate to make lighter units with more accurate monitors in the unit. In 1971 the LifePak 911 was released with a 12-Lead and stress-test monitor. The LifePak 2 was launched in 1972 specifically to be a rapid response unit for the new emergency vehicle services. The LifePak 2 was the first portable unit that allowed ECG signal transmissions via telephone.

The 1970’s continued to see lots of innovation at Physio-Control. The LifePak 3 (1973) was the first unit to offer non-fade display of ECG waveforms and cardioscope “freeze” capability. The LifePak 1 (1973) was also released without a cardioscope. The LifePak 4, which contained an integrated ECG recorder, and the Physio 260 (a defibrillator for home use) and the Physio 1440 cardiac care system defibrillator were released to the marketing in 1974.

In 1976 the LifePak 5 went into production and was the lightest LifePak to date weighing only 5 pounds and 19 ounces. A modified LifePak 5 accompanied the 65-member American Medical Expedition to Mt. Everest in 1981 and the China-Everest Expedition in 1982.

The close of the 1970’s and early 1980’s saw more innovation with the LifePak brand including a modular design (LifePak 6), external transchest pacemaker (LifePak 8), and the launch of the LifePak 100/200 automatic advisor defibrillators with an incorporated Shock Advisory System to provide real-time analytics on the patients heart rhythm and determine if a shock was needed. And in 1989 the LifePak 9 and 10 both integrated a Code Summary record for documentation. The LifePak 10 was designed to meet the most stringent of medical care standards in place at the time.

The 1990‘s and 2000’s

The last decade of the 20th century didn’t slow innovation at Physio-Control. LifePaks were still a go to brand in defibrillation and the innovation continued with the LifePak 11 (1994) which set a standard in 12-lead pre-hospital diagnosis and care, LifePak 500 (1997) which introduced the public to the ease of defibrillation and allowed more live-saving response to take place, LifePak 12 (1998) which revolutionized acute pre-hospital care with enhanced diagnostics and monitoring available in the unit and the LifePak CR (2000) the first fully automated external defibrillation (AED) devise on the market.

In the 2000’s Physio-Control continued to perfect the automation, monitoring and diagnostic capabilities of the LifePak series and in 2009 launched the LifePak 15 one of the most advanced units to help ALS providers become more clinically innovative in the field.

Related Information

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The National EMS Museum Collection

Memories

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I remember carry the “33” for 4 years. It was very heavy, especially when going up 5 flights of stairs with a D tank of O2. And the paddles had a very narrow insulator around the electrodes. This made it real easy to get, “Bit” when using it.

Deathcheater (2014)