Would you do that?

So you placed your life at risk?

Wow, I can see why you did that.

I would absolutely give mouth to mouth if the situation required it. Don't be dramatic about putting your life at risk. If the person isn't bleeding from the mouth it's just as safe as kissing. I'm sure we have all kissed someone who we later in the sober light of day we would have considered an infection control risk.

I use my phone, to type, I work at night, and I'm a bad speller. Pick any reason you want for my misspellings

If the person isn't bleeding from the mouth it's just as safe as kissing. I'm sure we have all kissed someone who we later in the sober light of day we would have considered an infection

Very good point. That was pretty much the attitude of the Public Health folks when I showed up to report my "exposure". If everyone who kissed someone unseemly came in to file a report they'd sure have some busy Monday mornings!

OK lpn, that seems like a rational response, if no blood it is a go but if there is blood it is a no go, then you do what ever else you can do.

Thanks for all your replies....but the situation is that the person is not breathing but DOES have a heart rate, a pulse, then what? You have no barrier device and you don't want to contract a disease.

If you feel uncomfortable with mouth to mouth you can at least jaw thrust and open the airway. There are other things that can be done.

I've seen plenty of puking arrests to use caution before thinking of performing mouth-to-mouth, but if I really thought it would help (which it likely wouldn't), I would probably do it. What diseases are you worried about contracting through saliva?

I don't know if I would or not in the heat of the moment with adrenaline pumping. I think more people should learn CPR though, it isn't just a nurse thing.

No, I don't think I would. If you have a pulse and a nonbreather, you probably have an airway issue so I would open the airway, look for obstruction, consider other causes like severe allergic reaction with closed airway or overdose. You give a nonbreather a minute and you're going to have a cardiac arrest anyway and then you can do compressions!

Oh yes... Let's avoid the easy and highly effective treatment of rescue breathing, and wait for the person to arrest. CPR has a success rate of between 10-30% nationwide. If at all possible healthcare providers should be aggressive with rescue breathing and supportive care to avoid full arrests. Mouth to mouth is not a high risk procedure for the provider. Even if there is vomit, it is my opinion at that the risk of transmission of serious diseases is minor. It's gross, I understand how you may not want to do it, but it really should be done.

I use my phone, to type, I work at night, and I'm a bad speller. Pick any reason you want for my misspellings

I'd do hands-only CPR like nobody's business. I also tend to have a barrier device somewhere nearby...

No I would never do mouth to mouth on someone unless I knew them personally. I live in the HIV capital of the U.S. and while I am more than willing to be a good Samaritan and do compressions or help out in other ways, I need to protect myself.

I always carry a barrier device with me (face shield on keychain and pocket mask in car), but if I were caught without a barrier device I would still try and find a way to respond. I would even consider covering the mouth with a T-Shirt so there was no skin to skin contact (and if the victim were to vomit it would provide a little bit of a barrier/obstruction before it came to my mouth!).

I feel that as a trained responder I have a duty to act as long as it is safe for me to do so (there is no fire, electrical hazard, chemical spill, etc). Now, seeing as this scenario is in public (not my place of employment where I am required to respond within my scope of training), I would not feel compelled to respond to the full extent of my training (being sure not to be negligent, practice outside my scope of training, etc) including doing compression only CPR if there was indication of possible communicable disease (track marks, open sores around the mouth or nose, etc) and I did not have the proper equipment to keep myself safe. However, barring obvious signs of infection risk I would most likely provide full CPR or rescue breathing until EMS arrived and took over care.