There is a difference

The training a Bystander needs is far different from what an EMT or Paramedic needs.

The demands on a bystander are far different that the demands on an EMT or Paramedic and in one way, more difficult. When the ambulance arrives, there are two healthcare providers who can perform CPR - they can trade off every two minutes. And in many EMS agencies, additional manpower is dispatched for sudden cardiac arrests.  This means that the EMS folks, when they arrive, can switch off every two minutes.

The lone rescuer in the 70% of the arrests that occur at home has to perform guideline-compliant chest compressions for an average of ten minutes or more. A 2012 test involving subjects whose age distribution matches that of the arrest victims showed that even when the manikin was far less stiff than an average adult chest, only the youngest 20% of the subjects were able to last ten minutes. (See www.slicc.org/ReSS_2012_359.pdf)

The Bystander also needs to understand (a) how to recognize when someone has had a cardiac arrest, (b) how to get the victim our of bed or onto the floor from a recliner, and (c) how to perform pedal chest compressions.

To the best of my knowledge, that currently is not taught in CPR classes. other than in those taught by SLICC.org

See www.slicc.org/ClassVideo

I sincerely hope you never need to use these skills.

Bob

CPR Research

Good news. SLICC has been notified that its research on leaning (excessive pressure on the chest at the top of the recoil stroke during CPR) has been accepted for presentation at the 2014 Resuscitation Science Symposium in Chicago in November.

The 2012 presentation is at
www.slicc.org/ReSS_2012_359.pdf

The 2013 presentation is at
www.slicc.org/ReSS_2013_030.pdf

The 2014 presentation will be at
www.slicc.org/ReSS_2014_028.pdf
after November 15th, 2014

See you in Chicago

For the third year in a row, SLICC will be presenting its research related to CPR.

In 2012 SLICC demonstrated that pedal chest compressions permitted people to last three plus times longer than people performing manual compressions also were able to provide Guideline-Compliant Chest Compressions ("GC3's") to a larger percentage of the USA adult population.

In 2013 SLICC demonstrated that one's ability to perform chest compressions for an extended period were defined by (a) the stiffness of the victim's chest, (b) the body weight of the rescuer, and (c) the method used to compress the chest. People performing pedal compressions were able to provide GC3's to a larger percentage of the population and were able to perform compressions for more than three times longer than they could when performing manual compressions.

In 2014 SLICC will report on its research into the prevalence and magnitude of "leaning." "Leaning is the presence of excessive force on the sternum at the top of the "full recoil" part of the compression force. We cannot publish the details, because the AHA places the contents of papers and presentations under embargo until the time of the actual presentation.

The presentation will take place in the late afternoon on Saturday, the fifteenth of November, and I will share the results soon thereafter.

We're happy and are preparing to act on the results.

Bob

By the numbers...

It's all about 

• the size of the risk and what you know.
• The largest killer in this country
• the largest disabler in this country
• what you can do about them.

Two factors determine the size of a risk: 

1. How likely is it that the thing you're concerned about will happen?
2. And if it happens, how large is the loss?

• "one chance in a million that you'll lose a leg" is not a big risk.
• "a 50 / 50 chance that you'll lose a penny" is not a big risk.

How big a risk is a ten percent chance that you'll see a family member or friend die of a cardiac arrest and not know exactly what to do about it? 

Each of us will see - at least once in our lifetime - a family member or friend or someone we know die of a cardiac arrest. And whether that person gets brought back with their brain intact will be significantly determined by whether you know what to do and do it quickly.

Your odds of seeing a stranger arrest are ten times smaller - unless you watch a lot of TV. In real life, seventy percent of all arrests happen in the home.

That's why it's it's terribly important to your survival that those you are frequently around know how to recognize when you have had a sudden cardiac arrest and when you have had a stroke...and what to do about it. 

To get those around you to get trained often requires that you first get trained.

Why don't you do something about that now? Once you've watched those clips, make sure those people you spend time with do, too.

Bob

I will unavoidably not be able to attend ECCU this year, so I've written down what I wanted to share with people there. The focus is on what we can do to fix CPR.

You can access my notes at http://www.slicc.org/ECCU_Info.pdf

Bob

SLICC passes 10,000 trained mark!

As SLICC entered it's eighth year in April, its roster of trained bystanders had reached 10,254.

Our latest annual report is at http://www.slicc.org/AR2014

After having demonstrated at the AHA Resuscitation Science Symposium that most rescuers are not capable of delivering manual Guideline-Compliant Chest Compressions ("GC3's") for the average time from a cardiac arrest until the ambulance crew is "hands-on" at the victim, and recognizing that nearly seventy percent of all cardiac arrests occur in the home, we have advocated pedal compressions for those who cannot get down on the floor, for those who have problems with their hands / wrists / arms, for those who find they do not weigh enough to perform GC3's, and for those rescuers who are just too tired to continue with manual compressions.

Our class video runs about forty minutes and covers Bystander CPR, AED use, choking emergencies, and stroke recognition.

We are actively looking for people to use our materials to teach bystanders in all areas of the USA.

Contact bobt@slicc.org if you are interested.

Bob

The Recommendation of a Book.

Thanks to Doctors Gillinov and Nissin of the Cleveland Clinic, we have a book titled Heart 411 (Three Rivers Press). It is a well-organized, comprehensive, 500+ page treasure trove of information.

The book contains an interesting chapter on how a woman's heart is different and similar to a man's.

Similarities?
The primary symptom of coronary heart disease is chest pain for both sexes. Also the principal strategies for prevention and treatment apply to both men and women: healthy lifestyle, medicine, angioplasty, and surgery.

Differences?

1. Since 1984, more women than men have died from coronary heart disease each year. Prevalence is dropping in men but rising in women.
2. For men, a heart attack is the first sign of heart disease. For women, the first sign is more commonly angina - a discomfort or fullness in the chest that generally occurs with exercise or stress and is relieved with rest.
3. About 25% of all heart attacks occur without chest pain - more commonly in women than in men. Shortness of breath is often the clue in the absence of chest pain, as are indigestion, nausea, vomiting, sweating, fatigue, and weakness.
4. Women tend to wait longer than men before seeking treatment, and they are more likely to go to their doctor's office than to the Emergency Department.
5. Eighty percent of women (vs. fifty percent of men) report having experienced early warning symptoms one month or more before a heart attack. The early warning signs for women include unusual fatigue (72%), sleep disturbance (48%), shortness of breath (42%), indigestion (39%), anxiety (36%), and chest discomfort (30%)
6. The standard exercise cardiac stress test is less reliable in women (more false positives) and fewer catheterizations for chest pain reveal blockages, thus raising the risk and lowering the benefit of these important procedures.
7. Young women - less than fifty years old - have twice the risk of dying in the hospital following admission for a heart problem than do men.
8. Men have heart attacks at an earlier age than women.

And what's all this doing in a blog usually dedicated to Cardiac Arrest and CPR? While most heart attacks are not fatal - i.e., don't trigger a cardiac arrest - some of them do.