A comparison between over-the-head and lateral cardiopulmonary resuscitation with a single rescuer by bag-valve mask.

CONTEXT: mask fixation in the lateral position is difficult during CPR.

AIM: the aim of this study is to compare the lateral CPR for the use of bag-valve mask by single paramedic rescuer as well as over-the-head CPR on the chest compression and ventilation on the manikin.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. The design of this study was a randomized cross-over trial.

METHODS: participants learned a standardized theoretical introduction CPR according to the 2010 guidelines. The total number of chest compressions per two minutes was measured. Total number of correct and wrong ventilation per two minutes was evaluated.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: we used Wilcoxon signed-rank test to analyze the non-normally distributed data in dependence groups A. P-value of more than 0.05 was considered to show statistical significance.

RESULTS: there were 100 participants (45 women and 55 men) who participated in the study from September to March, 2011. The compression and ventilation rate in lateral CPR was lower than OTH CPR. Around 51% of participants had correct chest compression rate more than 90 beats per minute in lateral CPR and 65% of them had equal or more than ten correct ventilations per minute.

CONCLUSIONS: in conclusion, this study confirmed that in a simulated CPR model over-the-head position CPR led to a better BLS than the lateral position CPR by a single paramedic student with a BVM device. We also concluded that by this new BVM fixation method on the face of the patients in the lateral position CPR can be a good alternative over-the-head mask fixation by a single trained rescuer.