Resuscitation
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The aim of the study was to evaluate whether mass-mailing of a 12-month wall calendar which focused on child and infant safety and first aid treatment had any educational effect on lay people. The calendar included algorithms for removal of a foreign body from the airways and infant and child CPR. The knowledge and skills in these procedures were tested in two groups using a previously validated check-list before and after the introduction of the calendar. ⋯ Whether the test persons had children 0-8 years old or not, did not affect the results. In conclusion the calendar had no educational effect when distributed by mail, but a safety campaign which included distribution of the calendar and a possibility to borrow a manikin had a positive influence on the first aid skills and knowledge of lay people. Mass mailing of CPR or other first aid material free-of-charge does not seem to further the goal of increasing the rate and proficiency of bystander interventions to save lives.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Tracheal intubation via the laryngeal mask airway: a viable alternative to direct laryngoscopy for nursing staff during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Eight nurses with no previous experience of advanced airway management were randomly assigned to be taught tracheal intubation either by direct laryngoscopy or via a laryngeal mask. Once competent in the technique using a manikin, they attempted a maximum of ten intubations on anaesthetised patients. ⋯ Intubation in under 30 s was successful via the laryngeal mask in 60% of patients (42/70) compared to 39% (27/70) when using a laryngoscope (P = 0.11). It appears that non-medical personnel can be successfully taught to intubate the trachea using the laryngeal mask as a conduit, for those circumstances where a cuffed tracheal tube is considered essential during resuscitation.
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This paper presents the second part of the validated Cardiff test for one rescuer basic life support skills, based on observation of video recording combined with the Recording Resusci Anne printout (VIDRAP). The authors believe that this is a robust evaluation tool which is capable of assessing the potential value to a casualty of a simulated resuscitation. The adoption of a widely accepted test methodology would facilitate comparison of research in different centres, which is not possible at present.
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The voluntary Swedish Cardiac Arrest Registry has collected and analyzed 14,065 standardised reports on cardiac arrests up until May 1995. The reports have been collected from approximately half of Sweden's ambulance districts, which cover 60% of the population. Resuscitation was attempted in 10,966 cases. ⋯ Survival to 1 month in the subgroup which presented with VT/VF was 9.5%. We found no significant difference between survival in large cities and smaller communities. The survivors were analysed in relation to time to defibrillation and we found a strong correlation between a short time and increased survival.