Posted on 11/07/2011 6:57:39 PM PST by Texas Fossil
Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest. It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
"This video is worth sharing," said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and one of the research pioneers who developed this method.
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(Excerpt) Read more at medicine.arizona.edu ...
I heard about this a week or so ago too. Seems that the chest motion produced by the cardiac compressions alone is enough to move sufficient air through the lungs for survival. I would think that if somebody else is there who is willing and able to do the mouth to mouth while the chest compressions are going on, it couldn’t hurt though. But the point is, don’t stop the chest compressions for the sake of mouth to mouth.
When I was in grad school we had to learn CPR as I was in the recreation dept. Also had to get red cross first aid certified. It has been so long ago that I could not remember exactly how to do it.
It seems we were taught wrong anyway. I do remember the really pretty emergency room nurse showing us how then we practiced on dummies then on each other.
The only two things I recall were to tilt the head back slightly, clear air passages and while doing the pumping, keep your elbows locked.
Thank you!
It seems to make sense to me, but I am sure there are circumstances where conventional CPR might be more effective.
It is unconventional and probably effective, nice to know about.
You do have to pause chest compressions for mouth-to-mouth (or bag valve mask) - you only stop the pauses once the patient is intubated. So just go ahead with compressions only.
With children, where respiratory arrest usually precedes cardiac arrest, mouth-to-mouth would help.
The part I found odd when actually giving CPR was it seemed I was blowing air into something without resistance. It took a while before that seemed effective.
Our family doctor explained that you may actually be blowing air into their stomach also. I had not thought about that. It would depend on how the flap was working for the windpipe. He told me it was normal for the patient to have belching or gas afterwards due to the procedure.
If you really want to save heart attack victims, just carry an eye dropper bottle of a strong tincture of cayenne (habanero works best).
About 4 or 5 droppers full in a small glass of water will bring them around quickly, and they will usually be as good as new in minutes.
Surely you jest.
makes sense.
It is not uncommon for the patient to vomit before, during or after CPR. That is one of the bodies defenses when the heart is in stress.
Not only does the rescuer have to deal with that, the patient, if they recover, may wind up dying of aspiration pneumonia.
Unfortunately, CPR doesn’t work very well. The number of people who have actually recovered as a result of CPR following an event of some kind is vanishingly small (I think the number is below 4%), and once you go past a few minutes, the odds of survival drop precipitously. I’ve had paramedics tell me that CPR pretty much serves just to keep bystanders busy until the ambulance arrives.
I did not know that.
Thanks.
I don’t know about percentages, but I do know about one case where it worked and it took what seemed like an eternity to get results. I do not easily frighten, but I was scared to death.
Surely I do not jest!
It works vastly better than anything else, and it doesn’t prevent any other approach, except for the fact that a patient that suddenly feels good isn’t likely to allow some fool to give him CPR.
Another song with around the same number of beats per minute is "Another Bites the Dust".
You might want to sing that one to yourself.
How do you give liquids to a person who is not breathing or shows any signs of consciousness (with blue face & lips)?
I assure you that I was not thinking about a song when this was going on.
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