X-Message-Number: 23509
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
Subject: Chest compressions rather than "kiss of life" saves lives
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 11:35:42 -0000

An article in InfoBeat stated that people in emergency situations are less
likely to follow instructions to administer the intimate "kiss of life" as
opposed to chest compressions only. Emergency telephone call center
operators are getting better results by advising bystanders to administer
chest compressions  only -- pushing the breastbone down about 2 inches and
then releasing it once each second.

From InfoBeat:

>>
Doctors are forgoing the rescue-breathing instructions that have long been
given by 911 dispatchers in order to eliminate delays that can be caused by
bystanders reluctant to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or unable to
understand the technique.

Instead, the goal is to get chest compressions started immediately after a
cardiac-arrest victim collapses and to keep the compressions going until
trained rescuers arrive.

''It was a lot easier to tell a panicked person to just compress the chest
until rescuers arrive,'' says Michael Copass, Seattle's emergency medical
services (EMS) medical director. ''They started as soon as they left the
phone.''

By performing deep compressions -- pushing the breastbone down about 2
inches and then releasing it once each second -- untrained people have saved
lives.

Research continues to favor chest compressions over rescue breathing in
those first critical minutes. During that time, the blood in the brain and
other vital organs still has oxygen that was picked up when it last passed
through the lungs before the heart stopped.

The body needs chest compressions to keep this blood moving.

New research by defibrillator maker Philips Electronics shows that stopping
compressions for just seconds can slash survival rates.

<<<

-- 
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