With the ongoing pandemic, has the American Heart Association made any changes to the recommended algorithms for CPR administration? The answer is, not really. You can read more about them here. These are the recommendations for bystander CPR:
It was probably pretty rare that you were ever going to put your mouth on a stranger’s to provider rescue breathing even before 2020, but hands-only CPR still provides a pretty good chance that the victim of cardiac arrest will survive. There are always those cute, little pocket mask keychains. Although I don’t believe those would protect you from COVID very much…On the other hand, this is the BLS algorithm for healthcare professionals:
A minimum of a surgical mask in a COVID isolation room? I think this would be very surprising to many healthcare professionals. Unless the patient is receiving CPR in the emergency department, their COVID status is usually known. Each hospital system is likely to have their own guidelines on the proper PPE for COVID isolation rooms during a code situation; the standard for most procedures is “protect yourself first, then help.” If all your healthcare workers get sick, you won’t have anyone left to help. It is amazing to see how fast nurses can apply a gown, N95 mask, a face shield, and gloves in an emergent situation. If you would like to learn more about how to properly perform CPR and be prepared in an emergency, book a class here! You never know when you could save a loved one’s life!