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Friday, December 27. 2013

More on CPR


The Heimlich Maneuver and CPR should be known by every responsible citizen. As I regularly remind readers, the CPR procedure has been revised and simplified.


The difficult thing about CPR is knowing who needs it. I have heard stories of people doing CPR on people who were choking, and on people who simply fainted.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical, Our Essays at 13:40 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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Big problem in the article. It recommends still using ventilation on kids and babies, but does NOT say that those breaths should be tiny, lest you cause lung damage as an untrained CPR provider. Adult lungs are FAR bigger than a baby's.
#1 fiftyville on 2013-12-27 15:12 (Reply)
I gave up on CPR when they started running around saying you have to get re-certified all the time. Really? What happens if I'm out of date? What if I'm a little off? Do I get sued. Best not to bother unless you have someone you trust at risk.

Certification means that if you are uncertified or out of date, you should not attempt CPR. They want to run their money scheme, they need to understand what certification means in a legal sense.
#2 JKB on 2013-12-27 15:32 (Reply)
Good Samaritan Laws should prevent you from being sued doing the best you can given the situation--the person in technically dead and even the pros often can't fix that.

And, over the last 15 years I've been a CPR instructor I've taught hundreds of people the "Friends and Family" version of CPR. It's free. CPR is a lot easier to do as far as number of compressions, ventilation's, etc than when I first took it.

Finally, despite being a paramedic with all my fancy toys, training, drugs, etc, I know that the only thing that saves people's lives in a sudden cardiac arrest is CPR and defibrillation. The person you save by doing the best you can CPR could be a family member which is why I work so hard training it, often for free.
#2.1 joemedic on 2013-12-28 09:22 (Reply)
I've taught First Aid and CPR (both Red Cross and AHA) for 32 years and counting. I can pretty much teach it in my sleep.

One of the issues I've found with CPR is that people don't quite grasp the meaning of "forceful" chest compressions. We're talking breaking ribs forceful in order for chest compressions to truly effective in pumping blood or possibly regaining some kind of heart rhythm. If you can't compress the chest sufficiently, it just won't work. And that is the sneaky little secret behind CPR.

With respect to JKB's comment, it remains a mystery to me that you need to "re-certify". It is basically applying a professional standard (much like a police officer or infantry soldier re-qualifies on the firing range) to a civilian practice. Much more practical to me would be a re-certification process that takes place every time a change is made in the procedure. You really can't "unlearn" CPR as it's pretty simple to begin with.
#3 Tom Francis on 2013-12-27 18:04 (Reply)
My mother was a certified first aid and CPR instructor. I can tell you exactly WHY they push for "recertification": money.
The mandatory "refresher course", and then the mandatory "exam" together add up to quite a nice bit of income for the organisations responsible.
#3.1 J.T. Wenting on 2013-12-30 03:50 (Reply)
Having seen three people's lives (probably) saved thanks to the Heimlich and having rescued my own three-year-old, who swallowed an M&M or Cherrrio -- or something equally idiotic -- down the wrong pipe, I think this should be demonstrated to all. Restaurant personnel, especially, need to know how to use this highly effective maneuver. It's amazing how far a piece of potato can travel when ejected from a windpipe. I think it hit a woman in the forehead who was sitting about ten feet away.
#4 jma on 2013-12-28 11:27 (Reply)

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