Having read the guest post written on Medic999's blog, it made sense to talk about the good that bystanders CAN do. The call I'd been given was to a 60 year old male unconscious but breathing. In the special instructions box it said that a neighbour was on scene, had done CPR and the patient was now breathing again. A hunch told me otherwise.
When I turned up the patient wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse, so I started CPR again, while the neighbour told me about the patient collapsing, him doing CPR and the patient suddenly taking a deep breath, so he stopped. As he'd had lots of training, I asked him to help me while I waited for a crew to arrive, which he did very ably. Having an extra pair of trained hands when trying to resuscitate a patient is always helpful. It means that I can continue with further skills, such as securing the airway and giving drugs, while they keep going with the vital basics.
He continued to help us throughout, either with CPR, with equipment, with anything that he could, even once the crew had turned up. We spent about 45 minutes on scene with this resus attempt, as the patient kept showing signs that he was fighting back. He was shocked with a defibrilator, given drugs, had continuous care and resuscitation, and eventually his pulse and breathing returned. We blue-lighted the patient to hospital, where he was still, literally, fighting for his life.
CPR doesn't usually restart a heart, but it does keep the heart "alive" for longer so that we can shock it back to life. This man was given the best fighting chance by a bystander who didn't just stand by.
1 comment:
Good post - mistaking agonal breathing as a patient that is breathing is a common mistake that causes bystanders to unwisely stop CPR.
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