Compression CPR Found Effective
- Thread starter toubis
- Start date
We will be switching to it during our next certification process next year. Our Fire Dept is even going to switch as well.
While I agree this is good for the public because it will get them to help someone in cardiac arrest as opposed to doing nothing, I very much disagree with fire departments NOT doing rescue breathing as well. I don't care what any doctor or study says, CPR with rescue breathing will ALWAYS be more effective than CPR without rescue breathing. Getting extra oxygen into the body is always a good thing when someones heart is not beating on its own. And lets be honest, if you're a fire dept / rescue squad / volunteer ambulance / whatever, you should have rescue breathing masks, BVMs, and plenty of medical tools to help you avoid giving direct mouth to mouth if that's the problem. Just my opinion, but it will never change.
The point behind this is the blood takes at least 30 good seconds to get moving with compressions. When you stop to do breathing, so does the blood. Trust me, it sounds screwed up, but it does work. I think our area saw a 35% increase in saves of witnessed arrests. It does work, regardless of what an EMTB says :roll: .
Much time and thought has gone into this. i was part of several pilot studies around me. All of them showed a vast improvement in the outcome. You have to remember, we are only doing this on a WITNESSED arrest, that is believed to be cardiac in origin. Not on any trauma related, or other nature of arrest.
Much time and thought has gone into this. i was part of several pilot studies around me. All of them showed a vast improvement in the outcome. You have to remember, we are only doing this on a WITNESSED arrest, that is believed to be cardiac in origin. Not on any trauma related, or other nature of arrest.
WTFD said:
Apparently, experience has proven you wrong. The only thing which might be more effective is bagging the intubated patient instead of rescue breathing, but recent studies released in the past 2 months have shown that super-normal blood oxygen levels during and following resuscitation using 100% O2 result in decreased survival:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/ab ... 03/21/2165
Rescue breathing causes increased intrathoracic pressure and therefore decreased cardiac filling between compressions, making the compressions less effective... the opposite of normal breathing which results from decreased intrathoracic pressure from your diaphragm moving downwards. Not to mention the tendency for enthusiastic (i.e. usual) rescue breathing to cause regurgitation of stomach contents which is then aspirated into the lungs, a definite negative factor in overall survival.
Ok, I admit I was thinking a scenario when there is more than one person around, not single rescuer CPR. Having two people gives you one person to do compressions and one person to breathe. My mistake for not thinking about other scenarios before I posted and having been at work all night and being tired. And StriketheBox I think implying that EMT-Bs are incapable of having valid opinions and/or knowledge of life saving procedures is a pretty low shot. There's plenty of medics that are retards and to this day I question how they got their certs. I don't claim to know everything, or even a lot, and as I stated this was simply my opinion and I had not thought through multiple scenarios before I posted.
I do also appreciate the info and will happily stand corrected... This is clearly a case of me opening my mouth too soon and I apologize.
StriketheBox, I have only done CPR this method since we changed over to this and have brought back more than half of the patients. Being an EMT or Medic doesnt factor into compression-only CPR. That was a very rude and inappropriate comment to say about EMT.
Klein said:
Dude, I only said it because he made a comment about doctors. It wasnt meant to rip on him, or any other EMT for that.
I have heard of this...but have never used it. What i can give as food for thought...
The two out of my three CPRs, where i either provided breathes via BVM or did the compressions were saves. The standard practice locally is to do rescue breathing, until i hear otherwise, i have to continue doing it this way.
All i have read are people's comments and news reports. Folks, where is the scientific data that everyone keeps mentioning it?
The two out of my three CPRs, where i either provided breathes via BVM or did the compressions were saves. The standard practice locally is to do rescue breathing, until i hear otherwise, i have to continue doing it this way.
All i have read are people's comments and news reports. Folks, where is the scientific data that everyone keeps mentioning it?
PM me if you ever need policies and such. I am an instructor, and have a lot of information and powerpoints.
Just completed my annual recertification. Instructors said we may be going to the "new" method next time around.
We've begun stressing compressions and using a LUCAS device (automated compression device that runs on a Scott Air bottle) where I work as a paramedic that does "perfect" compressions. It's amazing... we actually can get a BP and feel radial pulses when it is attached to a person. So much different than the old "Thumpers". Indeed, compressions have become the most important aspect of CPR-- even over intubation/ventillation and medication administration. Our agency has had a couple of documented walk-out-of-the-hospital saves since we've started doing this two years ago. BCLS/ACLS is now stressing compressions over everything else in all of their classes, so you'll get it the next time you refresh CPR.