All,
For your information.
the new 2005 resuscitation protocols are out today. I know you all will follow your training till you recieve new guidelines from your agencies etc but thought you would all like to have the information.
The new protocols are written for the benefit of lay people and sudden cardiac arrest and not for drowning situations.
There is a modification to the protocols for people involved with drowning ( it specifies lifeguards, such divers also fit that)
For Adult the BLS is as follows:
"The following changes in the BLS guidelines have been made to reflect the greater importance placed on chest compression, and to attempt to reduce the number and duration of pauses:
1) Make a diagnosis of cardiac arrest if a victim is unresponsive and not breathing normally.
2) Teach rescuers to place their hands in the centre of the chest, rather than to spend more time using the ‘rib margin’ method.
3) Give each rescue breath over 1 sec rather than 2 sec.
4) Use a ratio of compressions to ventilations of 30:2 for all adult victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Use this same ratio for children when attended by a lay rescuer.
5) For an adult victim, omit the initial 2 rescue breaths and give 30 compressions immediately after cardiac arrest is established."
More information can be found on the UK Resuscitation Council, look at http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/guide.htm
http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/bls.pdf this has the pdf of the new protocol and the section on drowning.
I have emailed BSAC for their Views and I am awaiting information from the RLSS UK (i'm a lifeguard trainer) and the Red Cross (trainer again).
When I have more information I will post it, if anyone wants to discuss it further please do so. It has implications for divers due to the general public not being trained in a method that is specificaly directed for us in a drowning situation.
Regards,
Mark