Now let's talk about something that's quite near-and-dear to my heart.
It's really picking up a lot of traction
in regards to the simplicity of what to do
when coming across a cardiac arrest victim outside of a hospital setting,
and it's a bystander who may not have any training at all.
Now for years and years, I've always said,
anything is better than nothing when you're responding to a medical emergency.
In fact, one of the biggest problems we have in bystander-CPR
is not that they're doing CPR wrongly,
it's that they're not doing CPR at all.
So, in hands-only CPR,
which has been termed by the American Heart Association,
it's also known as compression-only CPR.
The one differentiation that I'd like to make there
is that "compression-only CPR"
is a little bit of a contradicting term,
in so much as it's "compression-only" with no resuscitation respirations.
So, we're looking at compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
I think it might be better termed "compression-only resuscitation."
In this effect, one of the concerns that I have about compression-only CPR
is if you're able to do full CPR
because you have personal protective equipment,
do not fear contagious diseases,
and you have the abilty to learn something
as simple as 30 compressions followed by two breaths,
that's the optimal way to deliver a life-saving skill like CPR.
Compression-only resuscitation circulates only, really,
at this point, the residual oxygen already within the body,
with a lot of still hit-and-miss studies coming back
about how much oxygen and carbon dioxide
is being exchanged in order to oxygenate this body
and keep the body in what we call a hemodynamically-stable position,
so that they respond to defibrillation and life saving medications.
So, if you're able to sign up with ProCPR or ProFirstAid
and get on the weekly email list,
we're going to send you free email reminder videos every week in your inbox
to keep you fresh with any of the videos
on how to do this life saving skill we call CPR.
In my opinion, that's the best thing you can do for anyone in cardiac arrest.
But in the worst-case scenerio,
if a person was bleeding from the mouth,
you did not have personal protective equipment,
a person maybe did not know how to do CPR at all,
the science is really promoting that if we do fast and hard chest compressions
of a hundred compressions, or more, in a minute,
with deep, two-inch-plus compressions, over and over,
that the science that is there
-- which is quite small at this time --
but at least there is some positive science that says
it does circulate some oxygen to the brain,
the heart, and potentially some vascular organs
for a few minutes in the first minutes of cardiac arrest.
This is specifically designed for patients
who were witnessed in going down in cardiac arrest.
So, this is the way that this compression-only resuscitation works:
It's outside the hospital, we see someone collapse,
we repsond to them,
and we ask if they're alright, are they okay.
"Can you hear me?" There's no response,
they do not appear to be moving breathing or making noises.
Instantly we activate the Emergency Medical Response team, 911, or the ambulance,
and we go right into compressions.
No gloves are needed in hopes that there's no blood
or body fluid in the thoracic cavity of the chest.
Now were going to lock our fingers, lock our elbows,
and with the palm of the hand,
were going to go at least two inches,
and we're going to go at least 100 compressions-per-minute.
And, we're going to continue these fast and hard chest compressions
over, and over, and over, and over, and over,
until help arrives,
or someone with equal, or better, training takes over.
Please make a note, though:
it is so easy to combine simple rescue-breaths
with a head-tilt, chin-lift,
pinch-the-nose, open-the-mouth,
seal-the-mouth, give-two-breaths,
and circulate that around,
that until we have more science
backing that the cardiac compression-only resuscitative efforts
are equally as good for long-term CPR,
or for CPR in general,
get the training.
It's going to be the best way to do CPR,
to give your loved one, or someone else's loved one,
the best chance of survival.
But if you don't know anything at all,
and you want to try to help,
at least start compression-only resuscitation,
and do 100 compressions per minute, or more,
as deep as you can, as fast as you can, after calling 911.
And, hopefully, help will be just around the corner
and can take over from there.
"Sir, sir, are you okay? Are you okay?"
"Yes, hi, this is Roy Shaw, I am in Grand Rapids, Michigan."
"I'm on the scene right now of a man who collapsed in front of me."
"I came over to ask him if he's okay, and he doesn't respond."
"No, no, he's not breathing."
"No, he's not moving."
"Yeah, I know how to do hands-only CPR."
"Okay."
And that's about it. That's about as difficult as it gets.
This is a skill that's going to become extremely exhausting.
Give me about two minutes
of a hundred compressions or more per minute,
and I dont care what kind of shape you're in,
it gets exhausting.
Ideally a Good Samaritan,
though they be few,
one out of ten maybe,
someone should hopefully stop,
and if they do,
if they don't know what to do,
it's easy for you to show them to do chest compressions,
where to do the chest compressions,
how deep to do the chest compressions,
and how fast to do the chest compressions.
Compared to no CPR at all,
this is at least better than nothing.
An ideal situation in a city setting,
you have two, to three, to four minutes max, after a 911 call.
You're going to get first responders on scene,
professionally trained and able to help bring an AED and take over.
But while you have a bystander
if there is a delay in response,
and you're becoming exhausted,
ideally the other person will be able to take over for you
so that you're not compromising the depth or the rate of the compression
in order to keep those blood pressures up as much as possible,
circulating as much as possible,
buying time for this person to survive.