I was just cleaning out my junk drawer and found my mouth shield in there🤦🏼♀️ A lotta good that would do me if I ever needed it and not only didn’t have it, but had no idea where it was.
But really in all my years of being certified & re-certified, I’ve NEVER encountered anyone in need of rescue.
If we all carried around everything we could possibly need at every given moment for any possible unforeseen need, we’d all be hauling 20 ft long trailers 😆
I’m a minimalist and everywhere I go I bring as little as possible. Sometimes I bring nothing at all with me places I go. I really prefer to travel lightly.
Yes and yes
My certification expired a while back. I have some of those keychain sized shields in most of my backpacks and travel bags. And a large shield in my actual first aid bag.
The one time I did have to do CPR was at a house party and an elderly man collapsed and fell into the pool. I went from very black out drunk to doing compressions until EMS arrived. I will never forget the gurgling of the water in the back of his throat when I gave rescue breaths. I didn’t have a mask, and it didn’t matter because trying to save his life overrode any concerns of him coughing or vomiting.
While waiting for EMS and performing CPR, one drunk guy literally pulled me off him and said “give him some air!” And all I could think was “that’s literally what I was doing.” When EMS arrived, they took over CPR and I took on keeping the man’s daughter away while they tried to resuscitate him. The other people there kept saying things like “he’ll be okay” and I kept having to physically hold her back as her dad died right in front of her. I was telling her that we had to let the paramedics do their job and “they’re doing everything they can for him.” I knew not to say anything that would give her false hope.
Sadly, he passed away. I remember hearing he died the next day, after the family was able to say good bye. So I don’t know if they were able to restart his heart or not or get him on life support.
After the paramedics took him away, I overheard the guy that pulled me off him was going to take CPR classes so he’d know what to do in that situation. Well, first of all, don’t fuck with the guy that does.
Anyway, I hope you never do have to perform CPR, but it’s great that you took the time to get certified and recertified. If you do need it, it’s reassuring to know that you’ll be prepared. I was prepared for breaking ribs, but not for the gurgling sound during breathes. It’s the one thing that’s really stuck with me. And even though the man I assisted passed, I never felt any guilt or regret because I knew that I had the knowledge of what to do and that I did everything that I was able to do to give him the best chance at surviving.
He had water in his lungs! Did you not think to roll him to his side? Get that water out of his lungs.
But you did the right thing, initiating emergency protocol. Sorry he didn’t make it.
I was… Blackout drunk. Training really took over. My memory was getting into a hot tub with the girl I was seeing, then nothing, then doing compressions. It sobered me up quick, but I was still not 100%
He was dragged out of the pool, and there is only so much water you can get out by rolling him over. There was always going to be some water, and some O2 + circulation is probably more important than trying to get all the water out. The gurgling tells me that air was going in and out of his lungs though, so it’s not like they were completely filled. Probably only just enough to make noise.
In Switzerland you have to get a certificate to make your driving license and are required to have a first aid kit in your car. If you get stopped by the cops and they find the kit in your car is expired or is not to the norms you can get a fine.
What I carry most of the time with me is a Kinder-Egg capsule with latex gloves. I have them im all my bags. (You can get fucked real bad if you touch a bleeding person with your bare hands. A small cut on your hands is enough for the nastiests illness to be tranfered. At the course for certificate they made sure to tell us all about the risks.)
Also as far as I know in Switzerland, if you fail to help someone you can get can get in trouble with the law. It goes from a small fine to up to 3 years in jail.
I doubt Switzerland has the same issues as the US, but fentanyl can be absorbed through a latex glove. I switched my gloves to nitrile. Added bonus- don’t have to worry about latex allergies.
This is 100% false.
https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/can-fentanyl-be-absorbed-through-your-skin/2022/10
Fentanyl risks via skin contact is a myth.
Nitrile gloves are important for many reasons (allergies are a big one as you mentioned), but fentanyl isn’t one of them.
Huh. I work around a lot of people who use and that’s what we were told. I carry Narcan in my bag as well.
One of the cops that does security told us that they had some powder they found test positive for carfentanyl about a week ago, so I’m expecting the OD’s to come around any day now.
Afaik the breathing requirement has been mostly removed and it’s all about compressions. To quote my instructor “hard, deep, fast”
I got (lovingly) hollered at in the last mock code for pausing to let the respiratory therapist ventilate. things have evolved so much these days. After my round I went back to my true calling and walked the demented guy back to his room.
Honestly even in the event of a code on my unit with my own patient 90% of my job after the first round of compressions is just providing history to the intensivist anyway. My last stroke code I mostly just stood in the corner repeating that the patient didn’t typically exaggerate or present somatically so this had to be real.
Honestly most of my job in a code not on my patient is probably going to turn out being environmental and crowd control as well, making sure the real code team has what they need where they need it and everybody else is out of the way and all the background safety stuff is still happening.
That said even with modern evidence demoting respirations this picture still goes hard asf:
I have been a CPR instructor and assessor
I won’t bother with breathing for someone I’m doing CPR on
Good to see constant compression has finally gotten so much mindshare.
There’s plenty of air being moved with compression, and the unfortunate reality is that lots of air just gets blown into the stomach anyway, and the vomit created isn’t helpful
No I am not.
No. Last info I heard, chest compressions were all that was necessary.
Nah, because chest compressions in rhythm are the best thing until medical professionals arrive. The degree to which the straws / shields help is minimal at best and actually detrimental at worst.
Also, anyone reading this should get certified. In the US, it takes a couples hours in one day and lasts a year.
I did my CPR and First aid earlier this year (3rd time) in Australia and mouth-to-mouth wasn’t taught as part of CPR this time.
I have wilderness first aid certs and have come across people that took up my offer of aid, not CPR specifically.
I sometimes have a mask in my kit, but it’s among the first items to get left home if I’m watching pack weight. In the wilderness, hours from a helicopter evac, if a person isn’t surviving with the help of chest compressions then air isn’t going to make any difference anyway.
I have to take a first aid course every two years for work. The more I take it, the more determined I am to NEVER use any of it.
The course has gone from “Here’s a few things you can do to help someone who is injured or choking” to “Here’s how to fuck up your life and make what’s left of theirs even worse”.
The first aid course has pretty much scared me off of ever trying to help somebody beyond calling for help.
Might be worth looking into why so many medical professionals have a DNR… 🤷🏼♂️
Are “cpr-certified” people trained to look for and respect medical bracelets? And will they remember that part of their training, if so? One of my worse fears is being manhandled by one of these people
Yeah they know better than most, that CPR rarely ends well. Better to let nature take its course and head off to heaven, than fight against it & suffer & have broken sternum & punctured heart & even a worse death .
I have one in a first aid kit in my vehicle – I have no clue what condition it is currently in.
Realistically you’re probably just going to be doing chest compressions until someone brings an AED and/or is a professional.
Nah, i just let them die if their hygiëne is so messed up i dont want to give mtm. Like, Im not the fucking ambulance.
Yes I am certified but I have never owned a mouth shield.
