this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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My understanding was always that CPR isn't meant to revive someone its meant to keep them viable for revival by people with better training/equipment.
Yeah, basically you're trying to force some circulation through the brain by manually pumping the heart - which is as much about clearing the waste buildup out of the brain as it is getting fresh oxygen to the brain, and also about preventing clots (which will later cause aneurysms when the blood starts flowing normally). Everything else is essentially expendable/repairable/replaceable.
Even the breathing part isn't very important, though the initial check to make sure the airway is clear is very important. If you're doing the chest compressions right, you'll force some airflow through the lungs anyway. The important part is getting the blood to circulate. Having stagnant blood sitting in the brain is really bad.
The current CPR procedure recommends 100-120 chest compressions of at least 2" (5cm) per minute. You are going to hurt them. You may crack their ribs. You need to compress the heart through their ribs and muscle and other tissue that's in the way. Even if you're in good physical shape, it is an exhausting thing to do. It's definitely something worth learning to do correctly - take a class if you can! You can absolutely save someone's life if their heart stops.
The class with a mannequin is really important to experience firsthand. Like to see that you should really start calling the emergency services and put them on speaker after you’ve assessed the situation and before you start CPR. And to know how hard you have to do it. It doesn’t take incredible skill, the modern mannequins will rate your performance, as long as you go fast enough and don’t stop it’s good. I was in shape at the time and I found it easy enough if you use your weight to help, I don’t think I could keep going hard for more than five minutes though.
Now try doing CPR in the back of an amber-lamps bouncing down a gravel road at insane speeds while standing up and you have 50 miles, (80 Kms for those in Rio Linda) to the nearest hospital. Been there, done that, got way more tee-shirts than I ever wanted. Thank god for automatic CPR machines so I didn't need to manually do CPR for 40 minutes straight anymore.