Salt-N-Pepa had it right in their classic 80’s hit: “Just push it…push it real good.” At least that’s what the Journal of the
American Medical Association has to say today. A study looking at types of CPR after cardiac arrest found that if only chest compressions were done, the survival rate TRIPLED. The key to doing effective compression-only CPR is to push down fast and hard. No breaks, not even a ten-second pause to check a pulse or give a breath. There’s nice video of Dr. Sanjay Gupta giving a mini-demo on CNN today, but the best thing for everyone to do is take a CPR class and get some practice on those disturbing pale rubbery breastless dummies. The speed of chest compressions that you should be going for is the tempo of that classic (also ’80’s) Bee Gees hit, “Stayin’ Alive:” Ah. Ah ah ah, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive. Keep in mind that there is some controversy about chest-compression-only CPR versus classic (with mouth-to-mouth) CPR. However the take home message here at Doc Gurley is that if you’re reluctant to do mouth-to-mouth until help arrives, just push it. Push it real good.