THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CHEST COMPRESSIONS USING THE CPR-PLUS

Effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) requires a high level of skill from both healthcare professionals and the lay public. Inadequa te chest compressions are a common cause of ineffective CPR. The CPR-p lus is a non-invasive, hand-held, simple to use CPR adjunct designed t o assist the rescuer to monitor and modify the compression technique d uring CPR, hopefully resulting in improved rescuer performance and mor e effective CPR. Forty qualified nurses were evaluated while they perf ormed chest compressions on a training manikin. During simulated two-r escuer CPR (compression/ventilation ratio 5:1), the participants perfo rmed 150 compressions at a rate of 80-100/min. Compressions were perfo rmed with and without the CPR-plus and the results compared. The use o f the CPR-plus was randomised with regard to whether the adjunct or th e standard method was used first. The average number of correctly appl ied compressions was significantly better when the CPR-plus was used: 135.35/150 versus 110.70/150 (p = 0.0001). Improvements in techniques associated with the use of the CPR-plus also included a reduction in e xcessive application of pressure and incorrect hand position. The devi ce provided reassurance of satisfactory compressions and an indication of impending fatigue in the rescuer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd. All rights reserved.