Resuscitation
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Comment Letter Comparative Study
Effects of erythropoietin on neurological recovery after cardiac arrest.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Self-training in the use of automated external defibrillators: the same results for less money.
To compare the educational benefits and cost-effectiveness of initial AED training for nurses, already trained in basic life support, by a 3-h, instructor-based course, with self-training by means of an instructional poster, a resuscitation manikin, and a training AED. ⋯ The two groups were comparable for gender, seniority, and experience in resuscitation. No significant differences in performance were found between the groups for 14 of the skills tested. For three skills, there were statistical differences, but these were not considered to be of clinical relevance. If poster self-training were to be used instead of instructor-based courses, it was calculated that there would be a saving in costs of up to 47 euros for each nurse trained.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of rescuer position on the kinematics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the force of delivered compressions.
Depending on the clinical setting, rescuers may provide CPR from a kneeling (if the patient is on the ground) or standing (if the patient is in a bed) position. The rescuer position may affect workload, and hence rate of fatigue and quality of CPR. ⋯ In this study, while the kinematics of CPR differed significantly with varying rescuer position, these differences did not affect the compression force, depth and frequency as performed by experienced providers.
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Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been shown to significantly improve outcome in sudden cardiac arrest in children. In view of this, most emergency medicine services deliver telephone instructions for carrying out CPR to laypeople who call the emergency services. Little is known as to whether laypeople carrying out these instructions deliver effective CPR. ⋯ None of our volunteers performed telephone-CPR at a level consistent with current guidelines. Further investigation is necessary to determine whether the instructions can be improved to optimise CPR performance.