Category Archives: CPR in the News

child drowning

CPR Makes Big Difference in Child Drownings

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Dougherty County emergency responders see near and accidental drownings involving children quite often this time of year. Sometimes three in one day. They say knowing how and when to give them CPR can shave precious minutes, and save lives.

“The quicker you can get blood circulation through an external compression, the better chance they have of survival,” said Dickie Livingston, who is the training and compliance Supervisor with Dougherty County EMS.

Just with any other procedure, there is a specific approach to address a child in distress. Learn child and infant CPR online.

“You come up on a child, say you pull them out of a swimming pool, you get them out, tap them, make sure they’re unresponsive, and you holler for help. You tell somebody to go call 911 bring an AED.”

Livingston says it’s okay to hold off on CPR until help arrives if the child starts coughing. But if he or she doesn’t, that’s when you start the chest compressions.

“You put your single hand in the middle of their chest. Upper third of the chest. Press down about two inches,” Livingston added.

You will need to compress hard and fast…at least one hundred times per minute.

“For every thirty compressions that you do, you stand and open their mouth, tilt their head back a little bit. So they don’t have any trauma, blow two breaths in their lungs,” explained Livingston. “Just enough to make the chest rise and immediately go back to chest compressions until help arrives, or until the patient becomes responsive.”

It can take between two and seven minutes for the CPR to be effective, until paramedics arrive on scene.

“And at that point, they’ll come in, they’ll start taking over, and start doing CPR, and we’ll get there, and we’ll start giving drugs and put them on the monitor and see what exactly’s going on with the heart and fix it from there,” added Livingston.

The CPR method should be the same for every child, regardless of their size and weight. It’s acceptable to use two hands, but larger adults may only have to use one.

“The biggest thing is you have to press down hard enough to mash the heart between the sternum and the spine. If it takes two hands, if you’re small, then you have to use two hands.”

Article Source: https://fox28media.com/news/local/proper-cpr-makes-life-and-death-difference-in-accidental-child-drownings

cpr training retention

Study Shows that More Frequent CPR Training is Needed for Retention

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A recent study published in the Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine Journal shows that more frequent CPR training is necessary for maximum retention. As a result of this study, different organizations are doing what they can to update their CPR training requirements. Specifically, at Indiana University Health, leaders changed their policy to require all of their 20,000 frontline caregivers to take a CPR training course at least once every two years in a classroom environment. However, even bigger changes are coming.

This updated policy is based on the study cited above which showed that CPR retention rates are not as good as people had once thought. The study proved that retention rates started dropping in as little as 3 to 6 months. Moreover, the results of the study illustrate that “conventional CPR training appears to be more effective for the retention of chest compression skills than hands-only CPR training; however, the retention of artificial ventilation skills after conventional CPR training is poor.”

Thus, regardless of whether one is practicing traditional CPR with rescue breaths or simply hands-only CPR, there are major issues with retention rates. In addition, certified CPR practitioners were asked to rate their level of confidence in performing CPR only three months after receiving their training, and the bulk reported a significant drop in their confidence level.

As a result of the findings in this study, IU Health decided to make changes to their CPR training policy for all frontline caregivers. They began in back 2017 by piloting a program called the Resuscitation Quality Improvement Program which was created by the American Heart Association. This program offers CPR training every quarter in order to keep skills fresh. Since 2015, approximately 750 hospitals in the United States have been offering this program to their workers.

IU Health has found great success with their new policies. Their initial pilot program found that all 200 of the participating nurses and paramedics retained their CPR skills every quarter. In addition, they even improved in some areas, such as chest compression quality.

The program consists of about 80 mannequin carts as well as online CPR training courses and is estimated to cost IU Health approximately $7 million over the next five years. However, despite the price tag, Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, the health system’s chief medical officer, says that it’s actually a cost-effective investment. He emphasized that the flexibility of online learning allows their workers to gain the knowledge at their own pace and from anywhere, and thus, there was no need to backfill their positions while they received their training.

Due to the findings in this study and the efficacy of the Resuscitation Quality Improvement Program, online CPR courses have seen increased interest throughout the country. Because retention rates and confidence levels for CPR are surprisingly low after only 3 to 6 months, many organizations and individuals are seeing the importance of renewing their CPR certifications, and online programs are an easy way to keep their skills current.

The Resuscitation Quality Improvement Program is set to be implemented in all 16 of IU Health’s hospitals by mid-year, 2020.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4680501#ixzz6MHOQ2PeE

COVID-19 CPR Guidelines

American Heart Association Issues COVID-19 CPR Guidelines

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The American Heart Association (AHA) issued interim cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines that apply during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AHA recommended bystanders and lay rescuers administer “hands only” CPR without mouth-to-mouth ventilation to limit exposures to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

Those administering CPR as first aid also should consider covering their own and the cardiac arrest victim’s nose and mouth with a face mask or cloth to reduce the likelihood of disease transmission. Rescuers should use an automated external defibrillator (AED), if one is available, because defibrillation is not expected to generate aerosol particles.

Learn CPR Online

The risks of infection can be even higher when administering CPR in a healthcare facility.

Healthcare workers already are at the highest risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2, according to the AHA, and administering CPR creates additional risks:

  • CPR can involve a number of aerosol-generating procedures that include performing chest compressions, providing positive-pressure ventilation, and establishing an advanced airway through intubation;
  • Resuscitation can require providers to work in close proximity to one another and the patient; and
  • The urgency to resuscitate a patient in cardiac arrest can result in lapses in infection-control protocols.

The AHA recommended additional precautions for emergency medical services (EMS) technicians and healthcare workers. Both EMS personnel and healthcare workers should don personal protective equipment (PPE) to guard against contact with both airborne and droplet particles before entering a patient room or scene of a cardiac arrest. Only essential personnel should be allowed in the room or on the scene.

EMS personnel and healthcare workers should protect themselves and their colleagues from unnecessary exposure to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections, according to the AHA.

Healthcare facilities should consider replacing manual chest compressions with mechanical CPR devices to reduce the number of rescuers required in a room. Intubation involves a high risk of aerosolization, but a closed-loop ventilation system has a lower risk of aerosolization than other ventilation methods.

Healthcare workers should use a bag mask with a tight seal and an attached high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter before intubation or if intubation must be delayed. Healthcare workers also should consider using video laryngoscopy to reduce exposure to aerosolized particles during intubation.

The AHA, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Respiratory Care, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Society of Anesthesiologists, and Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists, with the support of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and National EMS Physicians, compiled the interim guidelines.

The National Safety Council (NSC) announced its support for and recommendation of the interim CPR guidelines.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards require employers to provide medical services and first aid, and some include requirements for employee training in CPR.

OSHA’s general industry medical services and first-aid standard (29 CFR 1910.151) requires that employers have personnel trained in first aid but does not contain a specific requirement for CPR training. Voluntary guidelines recommend that employers have personnel trained in providing CPR and the use of AEDs.

Other standards do have CPR training requirements. For example, the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution (1910.269); logging operations (1910.266); and permit-required confined spaces standards (1910.146) all have requirements for employee CPR training.

Article Source: https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2020/04/american-heart-association-issues-covid-19-cpr-guidelines/