An external defibrillator, like a fire extinguisher or certain medications, may be seen as a piece of equipment that every surgical facility is required to have on site but that, with any luck, will never need to be used. While your staff may rarely be called upon to operate the defibrillators that may save patients' lives, it's common sense that when your facility needs to replace or upgrade the devices, it should purchase those that are effective as well as easy to use.