New CPR protocols

Gave a talk on ‘Poisons: First aid in the home’ at College today, which I can email to you if you’re interested. At the end, I talked about the new adult, child and baby cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) protocols that are being introduced. A major study in the US found that “half of chest compressions given by professional rescuers are too shallow, and chest compressions are interrupted too often during CPR”. On the basis of this and other findings, the new guidelines simplify CPR and call for an increased ratio of chest compressions to rescue breaths. This could save more lives than our current protocols, so please check out the sites of the Resuscitation Council UK and the American Heart Association for the complete recommendations (there’s much more than I’ve outlined in this short paragraph).