Well, even if I fail everything else, I’ve managed to do one thing right: I got my CPR-C certification today, with a perfect score on the test. (Good thing, too — you can only get 3 wrong…)
We learned how to use automated external defibrillator’s as well, which is pretty awesome. Much fun was had yelling “Clear!” and then pressing buttons on the machine. Not quite as neat as the not-so-automated defib machines you see on TV, where you have paddles and such, but I can pretend. (I promise, in a real life cardiac arrest situation, I will take it seriously.)
A good skill to have — AED machines are just about everywhere these days. Malls, gyms, sports centres, etc. They’re pretty cool. Also, quite idiot proof. Excellent. I am occasionally an idiot.
I’ve had CPR certification (long since expired) before, and it came back pretty quickly. Still, in one of our scenarios, I was doing chest compressions for about 20-25 minutes (pausing every 30 compressions to give two breaths with the BVM) and man, that gets bloody tiring. When I took my gloves off, I actually splashed myself with the sweat that was swimming around in there. Sexy, no?
No.
Didn’t they suggest that the breathing from CPR be removed? I heard about a study that said that just compressions were necessary.
Sort of. The protocol has changed from a 15 compressions/2 breaths ratio to 30/2 for adults, and only stays at a 15/2 ratio for one-person rescue with children & infants (2 person rescue goes back to 30/2.) They’ve also dropped the requirement of checking a pulse — it’s less damaging to do CPR to someone with a pulse than to lose the 5-10 seconds of compressions on someone without. Now, you only stop if there are obvious signs of life — stirring, waking up, etc.