The National Ambulance Service is looking into how a piece of life-saving cardiac equipment failed during an emergency call-out.
A number of the devices have been removed from service following an error message during a recent call-out in south Leinster.
However, for ambulances that still have the cardiac devices onboard, paramedics have been given instructions on how to respond to a potential fault.
Southern Correspondent with the Irish Independent, Ralph Riegel says paramedics are worried about the time it takes to re-boot the machines during a medical emergency.
"We understand that several of these devices have been taken away for examination to determine what potentially could have caused the issue.
"In the interim, there has been an instruction issues that advises paramedics that if they get an error code on this particular cardiac monitor device, they are to turn it off, remove the batteries, take out the leads, wait two minutes before putting the batteries back into the machine and trying it again."
Concerns have been raised by some ambulance workers after a piece of life-saving equipment failed during the recent emergency call-out.
Ralph Riegel says time and speed are critical factors when it comes to cardiac emergencies.
"I've spoken to several paramedics and they are obviously very concerned by this because when you are battling to try and determine what is wrong with a patient who is complaining of chest pains, every second matters.
"One (paramedic) pointed out me, that by the time you do all of these different checks on this machine, it could take anywhere between four and five minutes while the patient is in distress."
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