CAB not ABC for CPR

Continuous Chest Compression CPR is the new directive as dictated by the American Heart Association. Forget about trying to give them the “kiss of life” and just do the chest compression.

The latest findings report the Continuous Chest Compression CPR doubles the chance of survival for victims of sudden cardiac arrest.

Play this YouTube video for your employees next time you have a safety meeting:

http://www.youtube.com/v/EcbgpiKyUbs?fs=1&hl=en_US

While the old directive was ABC (Airways, Breathing, Compression) the new directive is now CAB (Chest compression, Airway, Breathing) with the A & B being essentially omitted for those who have no CPR certification.

The great thing about this is that CPR is now as simple as it can get.

When you see someone collapse, shake them to try to bring them around. If that doesn’t work start chest compressions to the beat of “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees; it’s that simple.

Public Access Defibrillation Doubles Survival

A new study, reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, concludes that PAD (Public Access Defibrillation) doubles the chances of survival.

The results (viewable on the abstract on their website here) show…

“Of 13,769 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 4,403 (32.0%) received
bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation but had no AED applied
before EMS arrival, and 289 (2.1%) had an AED applied before
EMS arrival. The AED was applied by health care workers (32%),
lay volunteers (35%), police (26%), or unknown (7%). Overall
survival to hospital discharge was 7%. Survival was 9% (382
of 4,403) with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation but no
AED, 24% (69 of 289) with AED application, and 38% (64 of 170)
with AED shock delivered. In multivariable analyses adjusting
for: 1) age and sex; 2) bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation
performed; 3) location of arrest (public or private); 4) EMS
response interval; 5) arrest witnessed; 6) initial shockable
or not shockable rhythm; and 7) study site, AED application
was associated with greater likelihood of survival (odds ratio:
1.75; 95% confidence interval: 1.23 to 2.50; p < 0.002).
Extrapolating this greater survival from the ROC EMS population
base (21 million) to the population of the U.S. and Canada (330
million), AED application by bystanders seems to save 474 lives/year.

Conclusions: Application of an AED in communities is associated with nearly
a doubling of survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
These results reinforce the importance of strategically expanding
community-based AED programs.”

With the cost of AEDs dropping, there doesn’t seem to be any excuse left for not having one available in all public locations (airports, churches, malls, gyms, schools, etc…)

Today’s AEDs walk you through (there’s literally a voice that talks to you) what to do and how to do it. They tell you if there’s a problem and whether or not defibrillation is necessary (they will not allow defibrillation if the heart is not in fibrillation so you can’t accidentally shock someone) and some even let you know if you compressions aren’t strong or deep enough. See our choice of defibrillators on our website at http://www.nationalsafetyinc.com/16890/Defibrillators.html

 

 

Is Christmas hard on your heart?

In the story of the Grinch, his heart which was two sizes too small, grew. Seems that Dr Seuss might inadvertently have stumbled on something important.

Turns out that your heart might give you problems during the holidays unless you learn to control your stress levels. According to a podcast from the American Physiological Society available for streaming here, heart attack deaths peak on Christmas and New Years.

It was originally thought that the problem was related to the cold weather but cardiologist Robert Kloner of the Keck School of Medicine and Good Samaritan Hospital found that the trend held true for Los Angeles as well.

After a long list of probable causes were eliminated one by one, it was concluded that the culprit was stress.

It has long been known that the holidays are the most stressful time of the year but apparently we now have one more thing to stress about; your heart!

So… learning to simplify and distress Christmas and learning how to properly handle stress just got more important with the holidays on the way. The American Heart Association is a great place to start. Download “How can I Manage Stress?” to learn more about it.

Staying Alive to “Staying Alive”

Stumble It!

Someone at your workplace goes down in a flash. You can’t get a pulse. Congestive heart failure!

What to do?

Obviously you call 911 and run to grab the defibrillator. You turn it on, apply the pads and the AED determines that a shock is advised. The shock is administered and then the defibrillator tells you to administer CPR. Depending on the AED you have, you might then get only a countdown telling you how much longer to administer CPR.

Medical guidelines tell you to administer 100 compressions per minute. That’s a lot more compressions than you might think. Most people who administer CPR do a lot less.

A new study by the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria, Ill has come up with a catchy way to help you get the right number; catchy in more ways than one.

Turns out that the song “Staying alive” by the Bee Gees has exactly 103 beats per minute which would put you right in the correct range. Fortunately it’s a catchy tune that you can’t get out of your head once it’s in there. It’s also catchy in the sense of being an easy song title to remember, seeing the circumstances.

Still need more help? Download the mp3 onto your cell phone.