Tag Archives: procpr.org

Posted in Roy on Rescue • Sports Related • AED • CPR for Providers

16 Year Old Dies Suddenly On Basketball Court!

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In this episode, Roy talks about a terrible tragedy where a 16 year old athlete made the winning shot, was greeted by teammates on the basketball court and suddenly collapsed in sudden cardiac arrest. Later it is revealed that the young man had a not so un-common condition. Learn how to recognize symptoms surrounding this condition, how to respond to an emergency that arises from this condition and how to detect it before it may be too late.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of this young man. May God bless and comfort them all.

RoyOnRescue Team
royonrescue@gmail.com

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 • Sports Related • Broken Bones • Sprains • CPR for Providers

How Do I Know If It’s A Fracture or A Sprain?

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Hello Again,

A great question came in about how to tell if an injury is a fracture or a sprain or strain. This is a great question. In some cases it’s very easy to tell that a fracture is present. Like… bone sticking out of the skin! But if it’s not and there isn’t any deformity, it can be tricky. Check out this video blog for a more in-depth look on how to tell if the injury is something that needs medical attention or if it’s minor and can be managed right at home.

To read a bit more about the specifics, feel free to browse this link.
Fractures Vs. Sprains and Strains

Best Wishes,

Roy, RoyOnRescue.com


royonrescue@gmail.com

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

What’s Been Going On With RoyOnRescue?

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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 Medical • Illness • Roy on Rescue • Child Emergencies

Blast That Thrush!

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I just recently had a question that isn’t really within my expertise as a paramedic, but ironically ranks high with me because it’s so common with people who use inhaled steroids or take antibiotics. You guessed it Thrush.   Thrush is the more common name for a more technical problem called Candida or Yeast infection on the tongue. It’s painful, it’s unsightly and it’s a pain in the neck. Oh sure, you can get medicine from the physician for it, but it was probably a visit to the physician and their prescription for antibiotics or an inhaled steroid that go this nice little complication. Not because you wouldn’t want to go back to the doctor for their help, it’s just that you may not want a piggyback bill. So, one of the readers emailed in a question regarding their 82 year old relative that has inhalers and developed “Thrush”. They asked if there were any home remedies that might help heal this without a prescription. I gave my advice below.

Hello,

Oral Thrush

Thrush has got to rank as one of the most aggravating and painful side effects I’ve encountered when dealing with something as sensitive as the tongue. It’s unfortunate that some of the life saving medications like inhaled steroids can cause this frustrating and painful complication. I agree with you regarding the spacer. I think it’s wise not only for getting more of the medication off the back of the patients tongue but also getting more of the medication into the patients lungs where we really want it to go anyway. I’ve found that spacers become one of those important items that are not used due to the terrible cost. I’ve encountered prices close to $100 just for the spacer. Crazy!

Anyway…regarding natural remedies for thrush(Candida). There is a lot of natural ideas but of course none of them have been tested in a non-bias lab or do they carry the FDA approval. I also want to re-instate that I’m a licensed paramedic and not a licensed homeopathic expert. That being said, there’s at least three of my own family members that struggle with thrush or yeast complications from time to time and I’ve found a couple of ideas pretty useful.

The first would be liquid Acidophilus with Bulgaricus and Bifidus. This is usually located in health food stores and would be located in the refrigerator section. I personally believe that this keeps the cultures alive longer and therefore more effective. The flavors are nothing to report to the press about but it tastes a little better than good old fashioned organic plain yogurt. We like strawberry or blueberry. I have the kids take a tablespoon or two several times per day and then again just before bed time. I make sure that they do it after they brush and drink so that they will leave the film coating in their mouth. This usually heals the condition within a couple of days and begins showing relief sometimes as early as 24 hours just from my experience.

Secondly, though I’ve known about the benefits of virgin, non processed coconut oil for health purposes, I’ve only recently heard about it’s ability to promote a healthy immune system and it’s natural properties(caprylic acid) for anti fungal assistance. This tropical oil can be melted over vegetables, spread on toast instead of butter or mixed into smoothies where you really don’t notice much of it at all. Because coconut oil melts at around room temperature, a 98.6 degree mouth melts the oil quite quickly. Just a quarter or half a teaspoon melted in the mouth might be an aid to help get rid of the thrush/yeast and give some soothing relief to your sweet relative. Again, I’m no expert in this area and nothing I’ve said is meant to be a prescription or a diagnosis, but I have used the Acidophilus before with great results.
Regarding the Tea Tree Oil, I’ve read several sources that voice some health concerns when using tea tree oil in or outside the body. I would take a look at this website (LiveStrong.com) and then do your own study. Then if you are still planning on using it, I would consult your relatives physician prior to administering any of the oil.

Best wishes in your quest to find a home remedy that’s effective and safe. I hope that what I’ve shared with you will help in some way.

Roy Shaw, RoyOnRescue.com
royonrescue@gmail.com

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 • Special CPR Conditions

Life and Death With Dignity…and Privacy

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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

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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?

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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.

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

Roy On Location at the 2010 Video Training Updates

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I wanted to update everyone on the progress of the ProTrainings update video shoot.

I had come in early one morning and thought I’d have a cup of good coffee and let you see the on-site video location where the production team and I were shooting the new updated video trainings for the ProTraining websites. It’s important for ProTrainings to be a leader in the area of this type of training and though the video trainings are not required to be updated for a long time, we thought we’d get them out to you as soon as possible. If there’s enough benefit to change the guidelines then there’s enough benefit to get them to the ProCPR.org and ProFirstAid.com students as fast as possible.
On a side note, the production team and I have been having a lot of fun while working really hard on the set. I hope you’ll like some changes we’ve made for the new guidelines and I know that the team and I are very excited to get these updates edited and uploaded to our website in the next month or so.

Feel free to email me any questions you may have about what goes into our video production of these trainings or what it’s like behind the scenes at ProCPR.org and ProFirstAid.com.

Until next time,

Be A Rescue Hero For Someone’s Loved One,

Best wishes,

Roy