[NOLAgirl]

Now that is true love! Very Shakespearean tale... He didn't even hesitate to jump into water knowing that he couldn't swim. Now he's dead and if she did survive, she will probably be racked with survivor's guilt.

[Budd Dwyer]

Why bother when he was in the water for an hour? He was dead probably in the first few minutes anyway... Brave dude though. I can only hope he saved his girl

[Zeeta]

Originally Posted by echonovember ↗

This is exactly how you should perform chest compressions. Even though it looks brutal, you NEED to get >5cm to have any real chance at saving a victim...even if it's minuscule, some chance is better than none.

I won't lie, performing CPR IRL is not like what you see on TV, and as I've told my grad students when going over basic first aid (I require it for all the staff and students I take), do not stop compressions unless you can feel a pulse.

You may feel something give in the victim's chest. Yes, you probably broke one of their ribs, get over it, and keep performing CPR.

In a hospital setting, I am not joking that, if you're there long enough, you will see a gurney being sprinted through the halls by a team, with one member literally straddling the patient and performing chest compressions.

Don't know how to perform CPR? Stack your hands about 0.7-1.5 hand widths up from the end of the sternum, lock your elbows and use your body weight to compress the chest, and start playing "Satyin' Alive" in your head. It's tempo is about 104 bpm, which is within the range of compressions per minute you should be applying.

If someone with proper training arrives, hand things over to them, but stay to help.

If no one with training is on scene, step up and take control. While performing compressions, look for an individual who seems physically fit, and in no uncertain terms, tell them to place themselves across from you, and make them watch.

CPR is exhausting, but you do not stop. Even if you have no experience prior to this, you'll already have more experience than the person you just voluntold.

The sad truth is that, the public has an unrealistic belief about the number of people who walk out of the hospital after an event where the heart stops (asystolic). A study done a few years ago showed that most people thought that the victim recovers around 75% of the time.

...the real number is about 10%...if that.

Some chance is better than none though.

Yeah, I worked as a RN for 20 years & done my share of chest compressions. We used to say, we can fix broken ribs but we can't fix dead.

[FavaBeans]

[icehole]

Originally Posted by echonovember ↗

You may feel something give in the victim's chest. Yes, you probably broke one of their ribs, get over it, and keep performing CPR.

I've heard that some victim who survived managed to sue the savior who gave CPR because of some broken ribs

[Loop1]

Blind love

[echonovember]

Originally Posted by icehole ↗

I've heard that some victim who survived managed to sue the savior who gave CPR because of some broken ribs

Fortunately, this is rarely the case. There are several laws that have been enacted specifically to prevent someone from being sued for providing emergency aid to an individual.

This does vary from region to region, but some common details:

1. A rescuer must obtain the victim's consent in order to administer any first aid. However, if the victim is unable to give or deny consent, it is automatically implied as being given, thus emergency treatment of an unconscious victim can begin immediately.

2. The rescuer must act in good faith, but also be cognoscente of their level of training. Performing chest compressions is one thing, deciding to perform a tracheotomy with a Swiss Army Knife...and with no surgical training is something completely different.

3. In the case of CPR, broken ribs are a known issue, and occur about 1/3 of the time. As such, so long as the rescuer is acting in good faith, the odds are good that they will be immune to civil action, as the victim would need to show negligence...which given the tiny detail that the victim is still alive, would be difficult to prove.

4. There are some exceptions to all of this, but they are fairly rare. For instance, if a patient has a DNR order, and the rescuer knows about it, that immediately revokes the implied consent, and no action is to be taken.

If the rescuer does not know about the DNR, they are still considered as acting in goof faith.

[echonovember]

Originally Posted by Zeeta ↗

Yeah, I worked as a RN for 20 years & done my share of chest compressions. We used to say, we can fix broken ribs but we can't fix dead.

Just to add, I thank you for those 20 years...and the crap (metaphorical and literal) that you probably had to deal with, over and over.

The fact that every RN I know had to deal with BS, egos, and idiots, on a far too regular basis.

There is some hope, as a friend found an ideal way to ensure he's kept well grounded. He's an MD, and his wife is an NP...and she does not tolerate fools lightly.

[SpicyWeiner]

[QUOTE=echonovember;6361463]

Originally Posted by Zeeta ↗

Those were some mighty enthusiastic compressions.[/QUOTE

This is exactly how you should perform chest compressions. Even though it looks brutal, you NEED to get >5cm to have any real chance at saving a victim...even if it's minuscule, some chance is better than none.

I won't lie, performing CPR IRL is not like what you see on TV, and as I've told my grad students when going over basic first aid (I require it for all the staff and students I take), do not stop compressions unless you can feel a pulse.

You may feel something give in the victim's chest. Yes, you probably broke one of their ribs, get over it, and keep performing CPR.

In a hospital setting, I am not joking that, if you're there long enough, you will see a gurney being sprinted through the halls by a team, with one member literally straddling the patient and performing chest compressions.

Don't know how to perform CPR? Stack your hands about 0.7-1.5 hand widths up from the end of the sternum, lock your elbows and use your body weight to compress the chest, and start playing "Satyin' Alive" in your head. It's tempo is about 104 bpm, which is within the range of compressions per minute you should be applying.

If someone with proper training arrives, hand things over to them, but stay to help.

If no one with training is on scene, step up and take control. While performing compressions, look for an individual who seems physically fit, and in no uncertain terms, tell them to place themselves across from you, and make them watch.

CPR is exhausting, but you do not stop. Even if you have no experience prior to this, you'll already have more experience than the person you just voluntold.

The sad truth is that, the public has an unrealistic belief about the number of people who walk out of the hospital after an event where the heart stops (asystolic). A study done a few years ago showed that most people thought that the victim recovers around 75% of the time.

...the real number is about 10%...if that.

Some chance is better than none though.

You should stop watching so much Ambulance BBC series and leave this to the professionals.

Everyone on the internet knows everything.

[echonovember]

[QUOTE=SpicyWeiner;6366927]

Originally Posted by echonovember ↗

You should stop watching so much Ambulance BBC series and leave this to the professionals.

Everyone on the internet knows everything.

And you definition of professionals would be?

Would a doctorate in physiology, combined with a long running research project examining comparative genomics for rapid diagnostics, which involved working at 3 different hospitals over 7 years; would that meet your standards?