Resuscitation
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To objectively evaluate how effectively children can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR) 2 months after a single, 2h training session and establish whether or not their performance is affected by the ratio of external chest compressions to ventilations used. ⋯ Children as young as 10-11 years are capable of performing effective CPR after a single, 2h training session in cardiopulmonary resuscitation given in school. This age group are able to achieve greater depth of chest compressions, when using a ratio of 15:2 rather than 30:2.
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To determine the reliability of pulse palpation to diagnose paediatric cardiac arrest. ⋯ Pulse palpation is unreliable to diagnose paediatric cardiac arrest. Rescuers misdiagnose on 22% of occasions and which may lead them to withhold external cardiac compression on 14% of occasions when needed and on 36% to give it when not needed. Brachial palpation is slightly more reliable than femoral palpation.
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High oxygen increases morbidity and mortality. Current guidelines in Neonatal Resuscitation Programme (NRP) state if self-inflating bags are used with an input FiO2 of 1.0 without an oxygen reservoir a delivered safe FiO2 of approximately 0.40 is achieved. This conflicts with manufacturer findings (Laerdal infant resuscitator (LIR)). We assessed FiO2 delivery by the LIR, varying oxygen reservoir (OR) use, ventilation and input flowrates. ⋯ Our findings support the manufacturers performance specification that high input FiO2 results in high delivered FiO2 with/without an OR. These results dispute the 2006 NRP guidelines that state "in the absence of a reservoir (oxygen) the delivered oxygen is reduced to about 40%".