[ann945n]

Originally Posted by AfloydRN

I pulled a man from his semi, rolled and crashed, and did cpr until the Medics arrived. He did not survive due to having a pneumocranium, but he had a pulse and I had no idea about his head injury.If it comes down to it, tear a piece of your clothing or theirs and use it as a mouth shield. Noone should ever have to die because someone was afraid of getting puked on.

Im not afraid of a little puke but I am afraid of infectious diseases, no mask no cpr, sorry

[ChayaN]

I recently read an article that only 5-10% of CPR's performed on the scene are successful. Quite a discouraging statistic, isn't it?

[balkandina]

When I was in nursing school in San Francisco many years ago I had to restart respirations (he had a slight pulse) on a junky in the parking lot of a bar. I had to clean out his vomit between breaths, We certainly didn't carry masks around then and I doubt if he even knew that I saved his life. I've always figured that you do what you think is right when you are in any given situation. Rather than thinking of it as a gross situation with a loser ( which I am sure some of you are thinking), I prefer to think that maybe he turned his life around.
PS When I said I HAD to do it-for me there was no other moral answer:-)

[cotjockey]

I'm a volunteer firefighter / paramedic, so technically, I am never off-duty, but I have done CPR a few times before EMS was dispatched. I have a pocket mask in my car and in my coat pocket, so I've never had to do it "naked." It's easy to get a little confused about methodology though...I am an instructor and I catch myself doing too many compressions or not enough compressions or trying to ventilate while someone else compresses...

[nurseklw72]

Just in case you don't want to do breaths, here's a little bit of info that I heard about in my latest CPR class: Apparently, in Europe, compressions are done but rescue breathing is not. Studies have shown that the success rate of CPR is higher in Europe than in America. This is why we have increased our ratio to 30/2.

[cheshirecat]

My husband (military) was standing in a petrol station waiting to pay when a women rushed in with a small baby not breathing - she had been on her way to hospital as baby was ill. Everyone stood about so hubby grabbed baby put baby on the shop counter, told someone to ring 999 and started CPR. Ambulance came within 4 minutes baby was taken by paramedics and rushed to hospital. Don't know how she did it but mum located hubby a few days later and sent him a lovely card to say baby survived and was doing well. Hubby a bit shaken up but I was as proud as punch of him. He said all the time he had served in Iraq etc he hadn't been so scared as when he was doing CPR on the baby.

[fetch33]

Originally Posted by nurseklw72

Just in case you don't want to do breaths, here's a little bit of info that I heard about in my latest CPR class: Apparently, in Europe, compressions are done but rescue breathing is not. Studies have shown that the success rate of CPR is higher in Europe than in America. This is why we have increased our ratio to 30/2.

We had a code on our unit a few days ago. I was at the head trying like heck to ventilate the man. Another nurse was on the chest pumping away. I couldn't get a breath in. When I asked him to pause slightly so I could get in a couple breaths the resident said 'NO don't stop'. Aren't we supposed to pause slightly to get the breaths in?

[rnin02]

Originally Posted by fetch33

We had a code on our unit a few days ago. I was at the head trying like heck to ventilate the man. Another nurse was on the chest pumping away. I couldn't get a breath in. When I asked him to pause slightly so I could get in a couple breaths the resident said 'NO don't stop'. Aren't we supposed to pause slightly to get the breaths in?

I was taught most recently 30 compressions to 2 breaths. A partial reason for this change is people give breaths incorrectly, create too much pressure and the compressions are not as effective. But I would still think those breaths are important, you need some oxygen to circulate, right?
I've never had to do CPR, but I have had to do the Heimlech on my husband a couple times...he needs to learn to chew!

[porcelina22]

This is probably a stupid question- but as far as infectious diseases go, what are you going to catch by doing mouth-to-mouth? Aside from a cold, maybe Herpes if you managed your ENTIRE life without it (up to 90% of the adult population has Type 1 already), and in an incredibly rare instance RSV or Chicken Pox, what are you going to catch that is harmful?

There's probably a really obvious answer that I'm missing, but my little breain hasn't recovered from an extended Christmas break quite yet.

[nurse4theplanet]

Originally Posted by fetch33

We had a code on our unit a few days ago. I was at the head trying like heck to ventilate the man. Another nurse was on the chest pumping away. I couldn't get a breath in. When I asked him to pause slightly so I could get in a couple breaths the resident said 'NO don't stop'. Aren't we supposed to pause slightly to get the breaths in?

from what I understand, breaths must be altered with compressions when performing CPR on a non intubated person, however, when intubated, compressions can be done simultaneously while ventilation is taking place. Someone please correct me if I am wrong...haven't had ACLS yet, but this is what was explained to me by another nurse.