Background:
Effective chest compression (CC) is vital in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and rescuer’s fatigue negatively affects quality of CPR. However, there is no consensus on the appropriate number of personnel needed for CC to avoid rescuer’s fatigue.
Objective:
We determined the appropriate number of personnel needed for 30-min CPR in a rescue-team in a hospital.
Methods:
We conducted a preliminary randomized, crossover, manikin trial on healthcare providers. We divided them into Groups A to D according to the intervals between the 2-min CC and assigned a different interval to each group. Groups A, B, C, and D performed CCs at 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-min intervals as in 2, 3, 4, and 5 personnel, respectively. All participants performed CCs for 30 min with different intervals depending on the assigned group; participants allocated to Groups A, B, C, and D performed 8, 5, 4, and 3 cycles, respectively. We compared the differences between first cycle and the second to the last cycle
Results:
We enrolled 42 participants (age: 25.2±4.2, men 47.6%) for the preliminary evaluation. We used Kruskal-Wallis for the analysis. Participants in the less interval Groups A and B performed faster (A: -24.28±15.18, B: -7.90±13.49, C: -11.27±17.01, D: -2.38±3.31, P=0.03) and shallower CCs (A: -4.42±6.92, B: -3.18±5.43, C: -0.18±5.74, D: -1.23±4.10, P=0.62). Women-rescuers performed faster (A: -27.25±12.23, B: -7.00±13.97, C: -8.16±19.26, D: 3.16±4.66, P= 0.05) and shallower CCs (A: -6.25±7.54, B: -3.00±6.89, C: -3.66±3.32, D: -0.16±4.35, P=0.58). However, CCs of men-rescuers were not faster (A: -20.33±20.65, B: -9.00±14.44, C: -15.00±15.11, D: -7.14±16.70, P= 0.60) or shallower (A: -2.00±6.55 B: -3.40±3.78, C: 4.00±5.33, D: -2.14±3.98, P=0.06).
Conclusion:
At least four rescuers (Group C) may be needed to reduce rescuer’s fatigue for 30-min CPR. If the team only includes women, more personnel would be needed as women experience fatigue faster.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is more effective for in-hospital cardiac arrest when performed on a stretcher. A manikin study
