Where updated CPR-guideline-ignorance is bliss?

[Michael]

Since this is newly anecdotal and maybe a variant controversy, I didn't intertwine it with existing threads, but please transplant as you see fit. (You have to scroll down past the white space.)

[Are compressions south of the equator performed anti-clockwise? ]

[web:16f303aa81]http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21393468-23289,00.html[/web:16f303aa81]

[BEorP]

I'll be honest, I only read about half of it and then decided that I really didn't care to hear the guidelines bashed.

Show me lay rescuers who can check a pulse and be right on whether or not it is there in a true emergency situation after taking a six hour course that they take once a year and then we'll talk.

[speedygodzilla]

This is the sad truth

"On the other hand, Jacobs says if a rescuer mistakenly thinks there is a pulse when in reality there is not – a situation he has heard occurring in "numerous anecdotal stories" – no CPR will be given and "the outcome is going to be devastating".

A 1996 study found that of 206 people asked to find a carotid (neck) pulse in 16 unconscious patients – some of whom were on bypass and therefore pulseless – 45 per cent failed to recognise the presence of a pulse. More significantly to the present debate, 90 per cent correctly determined there was no pulse – but took an average of 30 seconds to do so."

And because of that I can not bash the guidelines. I just rather bash the people out their who don't know how to find a pulse. It is crazy to me how little first aid people know. I guess that just means job security.

[AnthonyM83]

I'll be honest, I only read about half of it and then decided that I really didn't care to hear the guidelines bashed.

Show me lay rescuers who can check a pulse and be right on whether or not it is there in a true emergency situation after taking a six hour course that they take once a year and then we'll talk.

Agreed on all counts.

[fiznat]

Alright alright, lets not get too high on our horses. Puses are sometimes difficult to find. In hypotensive/hypovolemic patients especially (read: the kinds of patients we check pulses on!), it is often very difficult to detect a pulse by palpation alone. This is why - even in the ED - you will have 2 or more people feeling for pulses at different spots during codes. It is a subjective test that has LOTS of potential for error, no matter how well trained you are. If you say you can *always* detect a pulse on a patient who has one, you are fooling yourself.

The danger is definitely there, and inexperience surely plays a role... but please dont assume that this is something professional providers dont have to worry about as well.

[kyle308]

Puses are sometimes difficult to find.

:shock: Nice time to forget spellcheck.

[Lucky~13]

:shock: Nice time to forget spellcheck.

Spellcheck is even harder to find. :shock:

[Dustdevil]

:shock: Nice time to forget spellcheck.

LMAO!

That's funny right there! I don't care who you are!

[fiznat]

:shock: Nice time to forget spellcheck.

LOL... uhm haha... those are sometimes hard to find too! My point stands!