CPR Moves: A Good Samaritan's Dilemma

Heart attacks and (heat) strokes can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. It is like an earthquake, you have no time to prepare for it and you have no way of knowing when it's going to happen. Statistics show that 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes occur every year--and that's only in America alone. On 2015, heart disease and stroke maintaince the top 2 spots on the leading cause of deaths all over the world.

Strokes, heart attacks, and accidents happen at random, it makes the chances of a health professional being present during these incidents very slim. By the time they arrive, there might be serious damage to your love one's brain due to oxygen loss, at minimum--

or their heart would have stopped beating entirely. By learning what to do during these situations, you can increase your and your loved one's chance of surviving. So it is highly advisable to take lessons about Basic Life Support or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation even if your current profession doesn't require it.


But what if while you are performing CPR on someone, you hear a cracking sound or feel something crack beneath your fingers? Cracked ribs aren't exactly an uncommon effect of performing CPR. In adult patients, it needs about 60 pounds of force to perform a chest compression with the depth of 2 inches in order to get the heart to pump out blood effectively. Considering these variables, about 30% of the patients experience fractures during CPR.

While women are more prone to skeletal injuries during CPR, older people are at even higher risk due to health factors such as osteoporosis that weakens their bones. Physical built is also an important factor. Studies show that people with a larger, bulkier built--and even the obese--are less likely to suffer from fracture during CPR.

So if you are a bystander and happen to perform CPR on a person in need and you feel that cracking sensation beneath your fingers, do you stop? The most favorable answer is, No, don't stop performing CPR despite this slight disadvantage. Yes, it might be disturbing and make you nervous to think that you are causing more damage when you are trying to help. But it all comes down to this question, Would you rather save someone's bones or their lives? What do you think your patient would prefer if they had a say on that decision? When this happens, the only choice is to not stop performing CPR. Because a few injuries--or anything else, for that matter--is always better than ending up 6 feet underground.

However, why torn between to-do-or-not-to-do decision if your certified?

Come visit our page at http://www.cprassociatesinc.com/ before this situation strikes!