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Monday, February 3, 2014

OK, Teammates. Here's how it all sorts out:

First, if you see a person have a cardiac arrest and you are in an ambulance or in the Emergency Department, you already know what you need to do.

BUT, if you are in a situation where when you see someone arrest, you need to call for an ambulance - and I don't care whether you are a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic, or an EMT - the odds of your being able to perform Guideline-Compliant Chest Compressions ("GC3's") from the time of the arrest until the ambulance crew is "hands on" at the victim are slim-to-none.

First of all, we have studied chest compression stamina and chest compression depth, and I can assure you that you are an exception, if you are able to perform GC3's until the ambulance crew takes over, when you are using what we teach in a normal CPR class.

The things we teach in a normal certification class don't address the very real problem of getting the victim onto the hard, flat surface we talk about, and it ignores the fact that you might not be able to get down onto the floor, you might not be able to use your hands to compress the chest, the chest might just be too stiff for you to compress, or you might just already be too tired.

The solution SLICC is proposing is to use your foot, not your hands.

Check the Adult CPR portion of SLICC's 2014 Class video:
http://www.slicc.org/2014CV_AdultCPR.mov

...and make sure the people you spend a lot of time with watch it, too. You cannot pump your own chest.

Best wishes.

Bob