Page 10 - Occupational Health & Safety, September 2019

AED/CPR
First Aid Best Practices Including AEDs and CPR
Receiving immediate aid following a cardiac arrest can dramatically increase survival rates.
BY RAY CHISHTI
Receiving competent first aid immediately af- ter an injury from a workplace first aid pro- vider can mean the difference between life and death for an injured worker. A work-
place first-aid provider is trained in the delivery of emergency medical procedures while awaiting arrival of emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. The outcome of occupational illnesses and injuries may depend upon prompt, properly administered first aid in your workplace.
When a worker suffers from a cardiac arrest, early use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) skills sig- nificantly increase the worker’s chances of survival. A worker may experience cardiac arrest due to personal medical conditions, or because of a workplace expo- sure like an electric shock.
CPR and AED Skills Training
Workplace first-aid responders may have long inter- vals between learning and using CPR and AED skills. Numerous studies have shown a retention rate of six to 12 months for these critical skills. So, how often should retraining be conducted? Practice makes perfect.
To help answer this question, OSHA references the American Heart Association’s Emergency Car- diovascular Care Committee, which encourages skills review and practice sessions at least every six months for CPR and AED skills. Instructor-led retraining for
life-threatening emergencies should occur at least an- nually. Retraining for non-life-threatening response should occur periodically.
When trying to save a person who has suffered cardiac arrest, doctors and medics have used vari- ous interventions to restart the heart including IVs, breathing tubes, and defibrillation. However, based on recent studies, none of those advanced techniques saves lives as well as CPR. In fact, the studies found that simple and sustained chest compressions dra- matically increase survival rates.
Although the American Red Cross and the Ameri- can Heart Association have endorsed chest compres- sions as an acceptable alternative for people who are not trained in CPR to use when they witness a cardiac arrest, researchers are encouraging trained rescuers to focus on consistent chest compressions rather than trying to juggle compressions with mouth-to-mouth or other treatments. In fact, compressions need to be applied to the center of the chest at a rate of about 100 a minute. It takes many repeated chest compressions to increase pressure enough to begin driving blood into heart tissue and circulating oxygen.
An AED can be used with CPR to restart a victim’s heart. An AED works by administering an electrical shock to the worker’s heart. By doing so, the worker’s heart can be restarted allowing it to beat normally again and continue circulating oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
The C-A-Bs of CPR, Not A-B-Cs
The American Heart Association (AHA) re-arranged the ABCs of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in its 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Previously, the association rec- ommended that lay and professional rescuers use the A-B-Cs (Airway-Breathing-Compressions) of CPR to revive victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Now, chest compressions are recommended as the first step, fol- lowed by airway and breathing or C-A-B for short.
In previous guidelines, the association recom- mended looking, listening, and feeling for normal breathing before starting CPR. People were instructed to open a victim’s airway by tilting their head back, pinching the nose and breathing into the victim’s mouth, and only then giving chest compressions. This delayed oxygen-rich blood from being circulated through the body. Now the association recommends compressions should be started immediately on any-
10 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2019
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