Accidents. Resuscitation. AED. Should AED be mandatory on diving boats?

[SapphireMind]

Yes, they acknowledge the benefits, but that does not mean they generally recommend ventilation first. It's a different situation when you know it is from drowning, and not an unwitnessed cardiac event. Ideally, you will have two people and be able to give breaths, but in general, most single person, non health care provider rescues, it is not an option, especially if you are not supposed to interrupt compressions for more than 10 seconds - most people cannot effectively give rescue breaths, then reposition their hands and resume effective compressions within that time frame. There is ideal CPR and then there is dealing with what you have. On a dive boat with a drowning, obviously ventilation is going to be more important, though the negative pressure from compressions does still provide some passive oxygenation.

But that's world's different from finding a person collapsed in a hallway with no clue as to why they have dropped.

 

[tursiops]

But that's world's different from finding a person collapsed in a hallway with no clue as to why they have dropped.

Yes, indeed it is. That happens also to be the world we are talking about.

 

[rongoodman]

I’m a bit confused about this as people usually refer to hypoglycaemia as “diabetic shock”. I would refrain from giving a diabetic patient Insulin until you have confirmed his blood sugar level. Otherwise how do you know if he’s not hypo? Hypo kills and kills quick!

Hypoglycemia mimics shock in that the patient can be cool and sweaty(a side effect of the body trying to access stored glycogen), and you're right, the naming is odd. Their problem is neurological. Hyperglycemic patients can, OTOH, be volume depleted simply because they've dumped so much fluid in trying to get rid of the extra sugar. I've never heard of any reason to administer insulin in the field, they just get lots of fluids until things get sorted out in the ICU. A little extra sugar given to a hyperglycemic patient won't do anything compared to the amount he already has on board, so it's safe to try when you're not sure what's going on and can be life saving if he is actually hypoglycemic. Ideally, you can do a finger stick as part of your initial assessment and know what's what.

(I missed SaphireMind's response above, but it looks like we're on the same page.)

 

[SapphireMind]

Yes, indeed it is. That happens also to be the world we are talking about.

But the original commenter was referring to general CPR recommendations.

 

[Wookie]

Why would you say that? I was a working paramedic for 25 years and trust me, we didn't seek or need consent from unresponsive or altered patients in order to treat them. The legal term is implied consent, i.e., it is assumed that an individual would consent to lifesaving medical treatment even if he is unable to say so.

I said that because the EMT looked at me and said”we Can’t give glucose to an unresponsive person”. I got the glocose from him and placed it under his lip.

 

[rongoodman]

I said that because the EMT looked at me and said”we Can’t give glucose to an unresponsive person”. I got the glocose from him and placed it under his lip.

Very strange. Maybe he meant that he couldn't give it orally because the patient was unconscious?

 

[tursiops]

But the original commenter was referring to general CPR recommendations.

Nah. The title of the thread is "Accidents. Resuscitation. AED. Should AED be mandatory on diving boats?" and the OP started out talking about a BSAC report about diving accidents. the focus was AED on a boat, not talking about general CPR, but CPR/AED in a scuba/diving/asphyxia environment. Sure, give compressions only; but ventillations don't hurt if done well and might actually help, and will actually help in the drowning cases.

I'm not sure why you are so concerned about this. Don't you want we lay-folk to be trained and do well?

 

[SapphireMind]

I meant the person who was talking about compressions only CPR that you responded to.

I do want people to do high-quality CPR, but for most lay people, that means compressions. If they want to do better CPR, there are a lot of CPR classes that are available, but the current research recommends that for untrained lay providers, compression only CPR. I would never want to discourage someone from providing CPR for fear of communicable disease with mouth to mouth. I highly encourage people to take CPR classes.

 

[Wookie]

Very strange. Maybe he meant that he couldn't give it orally because the patient was unconscious?

For sure. The T1 did not have a glucose injector (and before a few posts ago, neither did i even know there was such a thing). The EMT had glucose paste. The victim wasn’t unconscious, just unresponsive. I swear I could see consciousness in his eyes, but he told me Thursday that he had no recollection of the event.

 

[Wookie]

I meant the person who was talking about compressions only CPR that you responded to.

I do want people to do high-quality CPR, but for most lay people, that means compressions. If they want to do better CPR, there are a lot of CPR classes that are available, but the current research recommends that for untrained lay providers, compression only CPR. I would never want to discourage someone from providing CPR for fear of communicable disease with mouth to mouth. I highly encourage people to take CPR classes.

You haven’t lived until the victim has barfed in your mouth. Which will happen, no matter how alive or dead they are.