They paged in the office for anyone with medical training to report to the conference room, I had been a volunteer EMT yeas ago. One of my colleagues was on the floor not breathing with no pulse. Me and another colleague performed CPR until the ambulance came. Now, I’m back at my desk like it never happened. Most of the people in the office don’t seem to understand just how dire this all is and that our colleague might very well not come back. I"ve done CPR many times, but not in like 20 years, so I know the odds are not good.
I have a meeting in an hour, it’s all very surreal.
Good man. Haven’t the recommendations changed a bit over the past 20 years? I was thinking there was more emphasis now on the breaths and less on compressions but I don’t know. Obviously I need a refresher in case a similar situation ever comes up here.
Again, good man and don’t expect things to seem any less weird even at the end of the day. That’s a pretty heady thing to go through.
Yeah, they’ve def. changed the procedures, I was always trained 5 and 2 for two man CPR: 5 compression and 2 breaths, but I do believe it is different now. After today, I’m getting recertified. A couple of people have come up to say good job, but truth be told, I was wobbly on the procedures. I did my best, but I could have been sharper in there.
At no time did he have a pulse or resume breathing on his own. When he left here, the ambulance crew was still performing CPR. We did not defib, but the ambulance crew did. The firehouse is very close to our office, it seemed like a long time before they got there, but to be honest, it was really a short period.
Sadly, most of the time CPR does nothing. It’s those rare times that it works that makes it worth trying, but realistically he’s probably not going to make the Christmas party.
Good job, OP. I can’t imagine the adrenaline that must be running through you right now. I’d probably go home after that.
Yeah, I’ve done CPR literally more than a dozen times and none of them have ever come back, but that was all over twenty years ago when I was an EMT. I hold no illusions about the likely outcome. I actually don’t want to post too much detail becaus I just remembered that we’re googable now and I’d hate for his family to find some dumb comment by me. I’m okay, not rattled, but definitely amped. Just weird day and having a hard time coming down if you know what I mean. Mostly, people just seemed relieved that someone took control.
Well done. You gave him the only chance he had - and did a great thing regardless of the outcome. I’m sorry no-one is there to put a hand on your shoulder and talk/listen in real terms to what just occurred. It might be worthwhile to make a call to your EAP. Sometimes a even a quick conversation with a properly trained professional can ward off long-term nightmares and self-doubt.
You did right. You did great. Thank you for caring enough to make the effort!
What TruCelt said. Because of TV and movies, everyone thinks that you do CPR and they snap out of it a little later after some heroic doctor growls something about “not on my watch” and pulls out the paddles. Thank you for giving it your best.
You are in the minority of people who are willing to step up and do CPR. Good job getting involved.
The emphasis is on early defibrillation and early CPR. It is definitely 30:2 ratio of compressions to breaths.
Compressions are FAR more important than breaths for the first few cycles. Whenever you stop doing compressions to give breaths the patient’s blood pressure falls dramatically. Since the heart is not beating effectively it takes several seconds of the next compression cycle just to build pressure and get the blood circulating again. Compressions are so much more important that compression-only has a better survival rate for the lay rescuer!
If your office does not have one, ask the office manager about getting an AED. Install it in a case on the wall just like a fire extinguisher.
The research studies indicate that it is best to defibrillate within the first 3 minutes after sudden cardiac arrest. If that is not possible then do at least 3 minutes of compressions (rate ~100/min) before defibrillation.
So if the rescuer and AED arrive at the patient within the first minute or so, spend your time setting up to defib before doing compressions. If the patient has already been down for 2 minutes or more then do 3 min of compressions before setting up the AED. — Even better, have a second person unpacking the AED while you do compressions.
Good on you for your willingness to step up. Your co-worker may not survive but I would be delighted to be your co-worker. Take a deep breath and give your adrenaline a chance to settle. Kudos!
I just heard that he didn’t survive. I didn’t know that about the resperations not being as important, I was giving mouth to mouth, my colleague was doing the compressions. I’ll get re-certified. Do you think I made the situation worse by stopping compressions for the breaths?
Thank you for giving it your best.