The feasibility of emergency medical technicians performing intermittent high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Abstract

Background: Whether intermittent chest compressions have an effect on the quality of CPR is worthy of discussion. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the chest compression quality of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with different rest intervals. Methods: Seventy male firefighters with EMT licenses participated in this study. Participants completed body composition measurements and three CPR quality tests, as follows: (1) CPR-uninterrupted for 10 minutes; (2) after 2 days of rest, CPR 10s-intermittent (CPR-10s), for 2 minutes each time and 5 cycles; (3) after another 2 days of rest, CPR 20s-intermittent (CPR-20s), for 2 minutes each time and 5 cycles. Results: Body composition results showed that body mass (BM), body mass index (BMI), upper limb muscle mass (ULMM), core muscle mass (CMM), and upper limb-core muscle mass (UL+CMM) were positively correlated with chest compression depth (CCD) ( p < 0.05). Analysis of the three different modes of CPR quality analysis indicated significant differences in the chest compression fraction (CCF, F = 6.801, p = 0.001), chest compression rebound rate (CCRR, F = 3.919, p = 0.021), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE, F = 23.815, p < 0.001). Among the different performance cycles of CPR-10s, significant differences were found in CCF, CCD, CCR (chest compression rate), and RPE ( p < 0.05). On the other hand, among the different performance cycles of CPR-20s, significant differences were found in CCD, CCR, and RPE ( p < 0.05). Moreover, the CCF, CCD, and RPE scores of the two tests reached significant differences in specific phases ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study confirmed that the upper limb muscle mass or the weight of the upper body of EMTs is positively correlated with the quality of CPR. In addition, intermittent chest compressions with safe interruption intervals can reduce fatigue caused by long-term chest compressions and maintain better chest compression quality.

The Relationship between Selected Body Composition Components and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Parameters in Nurses: An Observational Simulation Study

“…Previous studies [ 12 , 13 , 18 ] have found that body composition components are essential to understand the mechanism of resuscitation efforts. Our study exclusively focused on analyzing the differences between fat mass and specific fat-free mass components such as body water, muscle mass or body cell mass in relation to CPR parameters.…”

“…In a study of 70 active firefighters, a significant positive correlation between the upper extremity muscle mass with the core muscle mass and chest compression depth was noted (r = 0.398, p = 0.001). A lack of significant correlations between the CPR quality and body fat percentage was also observed ( p > 0.05) [ 12 ]. It is worth mentioning that the results of the pilot study by Shin et al showed that FM% was significantly negatively correlated with the compression depth (r = −0.745, p = 0.001) and coexisted with non-significance for the skeletal muscles [ 13 ].…”

“…Performing CPR for certain periods of time is affected by numerous physiological parameters such as muscle fatigue, the heart rate or pulmonary ventilation, which can make a difference to the final effect [ 10 ]. In the hospital environment, medical staff need to conduct CPR whilst standing; they must then position their hands on the chest of the patient and maintain straight elbows, which is extremely exhausting [ 12 ]. As muscle mass and back muscle strength are essential in physical activities and maintaining posture, their impact on the quality of chest compressions were also the subject of an analysis in a student group [ 13 ].…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is an original study that was conducted among a large medical group, focusing solely on the relationship of the anthropometric measurements, nutritional indicators and deep body composition components with the compression and ventilation parameters. Several other articles [ 12 , 13 , 18 ] assessing body composition parameters on smaller groups and other BIA measuring tools are available.…”

The Effects of Fatigue on Rescuers due to Wearing Level D Personal Protective Equipment while Performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

“…시간에 따른 젖산 농도는 상승한다 (22) 혈중 젖산 농도는 시간 . 에 비례하여 증가하지 않지만 운동의 강도와 운동량에 따라 , 증가한다 (18) (19,28,29) 현재 현장에서는 최소 이상의 심폐 .…”