CPR

Hey everyone

Today, my topic is a one subject matter that I believe everyone should know. Being a nurse, I know it is difficult for some to understand the concepts sometimes, so I will be attempting to teach you BASIC life saving skills. The most important to know is CPR.

I will be starting a new medication soon for my PVC's, and its pertinent for one of my household members to know how to react incase I have an adverse effect, one of them being cardiac arrest.

It may sound scary...because it is. But the best thing you can do is prepare someone for the fact of the matter versus them not knowing what to do and panicking.

The first and most important rule is to NOT PANIC. this plays a vital role in how emergency services are able to respond to a call. As a nurse, this is easy for me. I've dealt with emergencies with skeleton crews, and it makes it a whole lot easier if you work promptly and collectedly versus trying to rush and not know what next steps to take because you're TOO focused on the patient. The best thing for the patient is to hand them off to someone with more skills and/or better equipment.

I will be teaching you now on CPR basic for good samaritans, and these steps may help you one day! You can check your local area for CPR courses through American Heart Association so you can be licensed, as licenses will ensure you know the most up-to-date procedures. CPR has changed multiple times, but today I'm only worried about teaching you how to respond to emergencies as a good samaritan.

First thing- Assess the situation. Example: If a normally active person (like myself) is lying on the floor in the kitchen, of course that's going to raise a red flag. Here's what I told my boyfriend:

First thing you want to do is make sure you take in a deep breath, hold it for a couple of seconds and relax, then release slowly. Call 911 immediately after. while the phone is ringing or they have you on hold, put them on speaker phone, put the phone down near you, get down and check for a pulse. If there is no pulse and the person is unconscious, immediately start CPR. (As a civilian you DO NOT have to provide mouth to mouth, but it is especially recommended if patient has drowned). Most likely by the time you have started, 911 will be asking questions.

                                 stop what you are doing so they can hear you clearly

Give them an address, sex and age of patient (estimations are fine). If they are not breathing, tell 911 "They are not breathing, I can't find a pulse, I will keep you on the phone while I give CPR" so they know you have not hung up and you can update them as needed.

911 dispatch are certified in CPR and can give you instructions over the phone

> If 911 is unable to respond to you quickly and you do not know CPR, face the palms of your hands down. overlap one over the other and lace your fingers.
> Search or estimate where the patients nipples are and put the heel of your hand in between them in the center of the chest.
> you want to push down hard and fast. Rule of thumb is to attempt to compress the chest about 2 inches every second.
> Do 30 compressions, then take a quick 5 second break. Again, mouth to mouth is not absolutely necessary unless they are drowning.
> If someone has stopped to help, take turns doing chest compressions, as this gets tiring very fast.
> If patient wakes up, stop CPR immediately and notify 911 they are awake.
> If they are awake, use the most calming, low toned voice possible so you do not stimulate patient too much, and tell them "Relaaax, stay where you are, you fainted and we are getting you help. We'll be right here until the ambulance arrives."

The best thing you can do is to stay calm and collected. And so not to send the patient into a panic, tell them what has happened, do not ever sugar coat anything because lack of oxygen will make the patient confused and they may not understand "you had a doozy" versus "you fainted"., they may not even understand "you fainted" until they start getting oxygen to the brain. If you have a blanket with you, put that over your patient once they're awake.

JUST BE AWARE- CPR is for life saving measures, there is always a risk of injuring a patient, even if you are certified and are a nurse that may do this quite often. Most common injuries are broken ribs or a broken xyphoid (the bottom end of the sternum) If you hear a crack, dont let that freak you out, just keep going, injuries will heal later on and medical staff will treat that at the hospital. Just try to keep your patient alive.

I will be doing some teaching for my boyfriend and my twin. I'd prefer them to be ready for a scenario than to not be sure they know what they are doing.