Category Archives: CPR for Instructors

This is the section where Roy has a subject or message that is specifically designed to be viewed or read by Basic and Advanced life support instructors. Roy encourages any constructive criticism and feedback.
Posted in Roy on Rescue • AED • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

What’s an AED?

Comments:

In this episode of RoyOnRescue, I answer a question from a viewer who asked me to explain what an AED is. The area of cardiology is an extremely interesting subject and electrical therapies are really fun to explain but how to do it in a short amount of time? I thought I’d give it a try and explain how AED’s work and how they can help a heart beat normally again all in a fraction of the time I usually take to explain it. I hope it makes sense and sheds a bit of light on the life saving gift called an AED.

Be sure to keep the questions coming and send them to:
royonrescue@gmail.com

Best wishes and keep on rescuing!

Roy

Posted in Roy on Rescue • Broken Ribs • Trauma • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

Chest Truama and CPR. To Do, Or Not To Do?

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This week Roy answers a question that came all the way from France where a student asked a great question about how to perform CPR if a person has had major trauma to their chest after a motor vehicle accident. You know, starting CPR on a victim can be a difficult decision to make in any normal situation, then add the complication of internal or external truama and without guidance,  it may be a temptation to avoid providing CPR all together. On this episode of RoyOnRescue, Roy Shaw, EMT-Paramedic and Trainer sheds some light on why it’s okay to perform CPR on a person with a chest injury  or on someone who has recently had thoracic surgery and what to consider while providing this life saving skill.

 

Be sure to keep the questions coming and send them to:

royonrescue@gmail.com


Posted in Roy on Rescue • RoyOnRescue Updates • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

What’s Been Going On With RoyOnRescue?

Comments:

Hello Everyone,

Well, it’s been crazy in the ProTrainings.com camp, but it’s all been great!   Updating all of the 2010 CPR and First Aid manuals and workbooks, creating the new ProTrainings Instructor program and expanding further into the UK market.  All very exciting.  I’m hoping to bring some new subject matter into the RoyOnRescue.com program and maybe even implement a USTREAM.com RoyOnRescue live program.  All to be seen but I can tell you, your comments regarding it would be really helpful. Let me know if a live show where you could call in, chat live, email questions and interact while I’m hosting the show would be helpful, fun or just a waste of time.  Let me know what time of day and on what day would work best too.  Tuesdays -Thursdays or Fridays between 8am and 3pm EST.  Let me know what kind of topics you’d like me to cover too.  Would you like to see more interviews with victims, rescuers or both?  And regarding the video shoot today, sorry to record while cruising down the highway to my next meeting but I wanted to let everyone know where I’ve been and what’s been going on.  Time is a very expensive commodity but I didn’t want to miss another week.  P.S.  When ever you get a video capture while I’m driving, please note that safety measures are in place to ensure there is no danger while recording to me or to anyone else.

Best Wishes,

Roy

RoyOnRescue.com

Posted in Roy on Rescue • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

Professional Rescuers and The Good Samaritan Law

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In this episode of RoyOnRescue, a newly licensed Medical First Responder asked if they might be at a higher risk when they try to help a citizen now that they are licensed.  Though this can be a scary and ever present problem in the world of professional medicine, it’s very rare for anyone to get sued or especially lose a lawsuit when it comes to helping people who have medical needs.  In this episode, Roy sheds some light on how most Good Samaritan Laws work and how any rescuer regardless of their level of training and license can help others while staying well within the guidelines of the Good Samaritan Law.

Best Wishes and a Blessed New Year From Roy and The Whole RoyOnRescue Team!

Minnesota Good Samaritan Law

Posted in Roy on Rescue • Training Questions • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers • Respiratory

RoyOnRescue Answers Question About Assessing Breathing

Comments:3 Comments

In this post, I answer a question from a professional who has been training lay rescuers and wants to update their students to the new 2010 suggested guidelines.

The following excerpt is taken from the original email.
Greetings from India,


“We teach first aid and CPR (to the layperson/non medical person)in New Delhi, India and are reading the new guidelines so that they can be incorporated in the new year.  I know the handbooks will be out in the first quarter but would like to start adding the 2010 guidelines sooner.
A couple of questions- your input would be appreciated.
1. Do we carry on with AVPU
2. As checking for breathing is being de-emphasized – how are first aiders to tell if breathing is present or not. From what i can figure out- look, listen feel is not to be used now.”


Merry Christmas and Happy New year.

Kind Regards,

New Delhi

The following is my response:

Hello Student,

Thank you for reaching out as I hope to be of assistance.  Regarding the new updates for 2010 and how it relates to training the lay public.

1.  Q:  “Do we carry on with AVPU?”
A:  Yes and No.  Yes in so much as we are always kind of asking ourselves, “Is this person awake? Are they Verbal? Do they respond to pain(not that we should be causing any pain)? Are they unresponsive?  But I have to say no, because we are checking to see if the person appears to be breathing or breathing normally?  This does not fit in the AVPU scale for a level of consciousness.  We must also remember that AVPU is an advanced medical training and the ECC/ILCOR recommendations do not teach lay rescuers to use AVPU anywhere in the curriculum.

2.  Q: With assessment for breathing being de-emphasized and the elimination of the “Look, Listen, and Feel” part of assessment, what is the best way to train lay rescuers to assess for breathing?
A:  This is a great question.  Under the new guidelines, assessment for breathing is performed by looking for the following:  Is the persons chest moving like in breathing?  Does the person appear to be breathing normally?   If the person is not breathing normally, and the chest is not rising and falling, the rescuer will initial emergency medical services and begin CPR starting with 30 chest compressions at least 2 inches deep and at a rate of at least 100 per minute.

The simplification of assessment for breathing was brought by confusion of agonal respirations vs. regular gas exchanging breathing.  The hope is that if a rescuer notices that the person is not breathing normally, help will be called and initiation of CPR will not be delayed.

For those of us who worry that too many victims will receive CPR when it is not necessary and thereby suffer unnecessary injuries, one must be aware of the scientific studies that show that “only two percent of people receiving CPR suffered any injury at all from CPR when it was not needed.  But the advantages of early initiation of CPR without delay, has been shown to improve survival with minimal risk of injury but with great increase of benefit.( http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/121/1/91)

Please note that all update training is available for free at:  http://www.profirstaid.com

Thank you for your email and please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas!

Roy Shaw, EMT-Paramedic
roy.shaw@procpr.org
royonrescue@gmail.com

Posted in Roy on Rescue • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers • Dehydration

Foods That Help Hydrate While In The Orient

Comments:

A student wrote:

“My Husband and I will spend a month in Southeast Asia in January.  I am concerned that I will have issues with the hot, huumid climate.  We will only have air conditioning in the hotel and bus.  I have lightweight clothes, colling bandana, big hat, and know to drink lots of water.  Is there anything else I can do, such as eat certain foods, ie, salty snacks, boullion, etc.?”

Well this is a great question!  After a little research I’ve got great news.

It turns out that not only can you add one type of food to your diet, there are three types of food that will help you stay hydrated or rehydrate especially if you or someone you know is NOT a big drinker of water.  The following VideoBlog should help answer this question and at the bottom of this post, I’ve included the source where I found some helpful information on different foods that help you stay or get better hydrated.

I hope this helps and thanks for sending the question.

Have fun in Southern Asia and let me know how it went when you get back.

Zai Jian(Goodbye)

Roy

royonrescue@gmail.com
Tweet: @royonrescue

Foods That Hydrate

Posted in Roy on Rescue • Training Questions • Child Emergencies • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

How Can A Child Do CPR?

Comments:1 Comment

In this episode of RoyOnRescue, Roy get’s asked the best way to have a child do CPR on a person who is larger then them.  Other than a bit of bad videography while Roy’s on the fly…I think it will help answer a question many people have about the best way that a small person can help someone in cardiac arrest.
Best Wishes,
The RoyOnRescue Team

Posted in Roy on Rescue • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers • Special CPR Conditions

Life and Death With Dignity…and Privacy

Comments:

just received a question from a student who asked:

Dear RoyOnRescue,

“In thinking about the use of an AED, what if the person is a woman and we have to “bare the chest”.   Should we place the AED pads under the shirt, or do we have to actually bare the chest for proper use of an AED?”

-CH

This is a good question and one that is uncomfortable for some to think about.  Whenever a rescuer is working on a patient, male or female,  a rule of ethics applies.  We as rescuers should be thinking about the dignity and respect of the patients privacy and confidentiality at all times.  This includes times where we may have to “Bare” the chest of the victim in order for us to defibrillate or treat them.  We should seek to be discrete as long as we are able to get the job of rescue accomplished without delay.   If the person is able to be defibrillated without full removal of the clothing that’s great.  If the person needs to have shirt or underclothing cut or removed in order to defibrillate properly than that will need to be done.  If there are bystanders, those bystanders could turn their backs to the patient and try to make a human curtain around the patient in order to protect the patients privacy and dignity.  Think about if this is in a public workplace or location where the person is known.  They may survive if everything goes the way it should and if they do, they will probably return to this workplace.  We must make sure that as far as we can control, we protected their dignity and helped them as much as possible without complicating or slowing down the rescue process.

I hope this helps.

Best Wishes,

Roy

www.royonrescue.com
royonresccue@gmail.com

Posted in Roy on Rescue • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers

2010 AHA Updates From Chicago

Comments:1 Comment

Hi Everyone,

I’m here at the 2010 American Heart Association instructor conference hosted at the McCormick Place. It was a wonderful weekend in the “Windy City” and worked out well for Jody Marvi(ProTrainings.com Compliance and Accreditation Manager) and I to attend the new guideline roll-out for BLS, ACLS, PALS and NeoNatal Resuscitation. I’m glad to announce that in the end, I don’t see any serious issues to any of the latest guidelines for resuscitation. I was afraid there was going to be some changes that were going to cause ethical issues for end of life issues but thankfully to the best of my knowledge, this didn’t materialize for 2010. So take a peek and let me know what you think of the latest ECC/ILCOR recommendations for resuscitation.

Posted in Roy on Rescue • CPR for Instructors • CPR for Providers • Patient Assessment

AVPU for Deciding to Start CPR?

Comments:

In this episode of RoyOnRescue, Roy offers an answer to an email question about using the assessment of Awake, Verbal, Painful Response, Unconscious(AVPU) method for deciding to begin CPR.   He sheds some light on what AVPU is and how it can be blended with the guidelines to decide to start CPR.