As more and more people are educated about sudden cardiac death and the importance of rapid defibrillation, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are being increasingly recognized as the emerging standard of care for treatment of sudden cardiac arrest in the adult population.

NCAA member schools are presented with a unique opportunity to save lives of coaches, fans, officials, staff and student-athletes by establishing a policy to access AEDs on campus.

While there certainly are more common risks facing collegiate athletes, sudden cardiac arrest is a real threat since it strikes even this highly trained and physically fit population. Fred Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, reported 74 cases of indirect death in collegiate athletes over the past two decades, and the cause of most of these deaths was cardiac.

Additionally, this figure may not accurately represent the rate at which sudden cardiac death affects collegiate athletes; the estimate may be low because of the lack of a centralized reporting system.

When sudden cardiac conditions do occur, the American Red Cross' Chain of Survival emphasizes early recognition and access, early CPR, early defibrillation and early advanced life support. For every minute a victim's heart remains in an abnormal rhythm, the chances of survival decrease by 10 percent.

Automated External Defibrillators are small, portable devices roughly the size of a laptop computer that can offer rapid defibrillation, a key determinant to survival of cardiac arrest.

The time to first shock (delivered by personnel on site, rather than waiting for EMS) can be under five minutes, versus the 10 minutes that it might take paramedics to arrive. Placing AEDs on college campuses could drastically cut down on the lapse between collapse and first shock, as there can be large delays in EMS response time.

Further, these machines are extremely easy to use. Voice prompts give the rescuer exact instructions on how to operate the AED -- how to apply the pads, check vital signs, administer CPR and give the life-saving shock. However, a shock cannot be delivered accidentally because of the device's internal computer algorithm that recognizes if the victim's heart requires a shock.

As many colleges already have learned through their own AED programs, coaches and athletes -- in addition to trained athletics-medicine personnel -- easily could be educated and expected to use the AED in an emergency situation to save lives.

Recently, the American Heart Association released a statement recommending that AEDs be placed in all schools in which the 911 call-to-response time is greater than five minutes, in which there has been a cardiac arrest in the last five years or in which there is a known high-risk individual.

NCAA institutions have an opportunity to become national leaders in the effort to reduce the number of victims of sudden cardiac death.

An AED program is expected to cost about $20,000 per school, and the machines would last for at least five years. That is only $4,000 per year for implementation of devices that could be used in an emergency situation to save the life of an athlete, official, coach or fan.

Why wait for another tragedy to strike? This is a rare case in which there are extremely few, if any, drawbacks to making the policy change. Institutions should seize the opportunity to save lives and implement an AED policy on their campuses.

Hannah England is a rowing student-athlete at Princeton University and Rochel Rittgers is director of athletic training services at Augustana College (Illinois). Both are members of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.