Uninterrupted chest compressions 'feasible' during shock delivery

[pseudoknot]

I guess this is yet another reason to wear gloves during CPR

http://www.medwire-news.md/38/74943...pressions_feasible_during_shock_delivery.html

Circulation 2008; 117: 2510-2514
MedWire News: Rescuers can continue with chest compressions during shock delivery in patients undergoing emergency external defibrillation, US research suggests.

Mock rescuers who compressed the chests of 43 patients receiving external biphasic shocks for elective cardioversion or electrophysiological study were exposed to low levels of leakage current, report Michael Lloyd and colleagues from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Delivering uninterrupted chest compressions during shock delivery could improve cardiopulmonary resuscitation outcomes, they say.

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[docB]

If someone is pumping away while you're shocking how do you know what rhythm you're zapping?

 

[pseudoknot]

Probably you'd still have to have brief interruptions for analysis. That wasn't addressed in the paper, nor the accompanying editorial (which is worth a read if you have access, and very short).

 

[leviathan]

It's going to be hard to convince people to do this, but if it IS safe, why not? Then, you only need to get off the chest for 2-3 seconds to take a look at the rhythm and confirm it is shockable. In my area we already compress while the machine is charging and only get off the chest to analyze + deliver the shock.

 

[pseudoknot]

I won't have a problem with it. I'm not afraid of electricity. Or bacteria. I think I have trouble believing in things I can't see

 

[greytmedic]

I want to know who volunteered to participate in this study? When I was a kid my brother got a jolt of electicity when he touched a nail in the wall that must have penetrated some electrical wiring. When he told me he just got shocked from the nail I, of course, went ahead and touched it, too. I learned me lesson after that: don't touch anything that may zap you with electricity. It has worked well so far.

 

[pseudoknot]

I want to know who volunteered to participate in this study?

Read the editorial! Apparently this continued the great tradition of self-experimentation in medicine