alt Hacker NewsHow to save a life without knowing CPR
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A co-worker once went into cardiac arrest and, thankfully, survived due to another co-worker performing CPR. I held the affected co-worker's head while the CPR was being performed.
I write more about the whole process here: https://x.com/alexpotato/status/2094412327785316661
Some key takeaways:
- I had taken CPR many times before
- I watched the entire even unfold from watching co-worker walk in to seizure like symptoms to not breathing to urinating on themselves
- I essentially "froze"
- This was despite having years of working in high stress environments (sports tournaments/SRE on a trading floor)
- I was literally overcome by events and could not process what was happening (despite the prior training and dealing with outages etc etc)
I HIGHLY recommend that everyone, at a minimum, watch a video on how to perform CPR. Even better, take a class.
And even if you take a class, practice on a couch cushion every once in a while.
It's just like with 911:
there are stories of people in an emergency dialing 411 b/c they were overwhelmed.
In other words, fire drills exist for a reason and the same concept can be used for CPR.
Former 911 operator here: call 911.
If CPR is the best option available, they will tell you that and walk you through how to do it properly.
They will also ask you relevant questions that would normally be obvious, but might not be if you are in a panic like "are they laying in the street and might be run over? First drag them off of the road before starting CPR", etc...
If you want to learn CPR, the Disque Foundation allows you to take the class for free and attests to be aligned with the current ILCOR protocol (you might catch minor discrepancies). Before you pay them though, know that for certification some institutions will require an AHA or ARC issued certificate.
CPR: https://disquefoundation.org/cpr-first-aid-aed-certification...
BLS: https://disquefoundation.org/bls-certification-renewal/
For certification, you can do the AHA HeartCode class online in about an hour, followed by a 10 minute skills test on a Voice-Assisted Manikin. The manikin simulations guide you with incredible feedback on depth and rate, likely providing a better learning experience than an instructor-led class with the old style of dummies. They’re located across the country, often in an office space near your local hospital that you let yourself into with a combination code for a self-serve and fast experience.
This is the sign for you to go sign up for a CPR course.
It's pretty straight-forward to learn and it's worthwhile.
I'm not sure who this post is for. If you find the advice in the post helpful, then go take a BLS course. The AHA one is very good.
Just reading this post that is essentially suggesting to treat cardiac arrest with Trendelenburg position isn't going to do much even compared to the very low chances of a ROSC even with an AED and quality compressions.
To the extent the advice is to do anything other than go take a short BLS course this post seems almost irresponsible. I don't care who is suggesting it.
My 45 year old gf went from saying she wants to skip work and go to the doctor, to passing out into a wall within 10 minutes. She went into full cardiac arrest and went into the wall so hard she broke the drywall with her head.
I called 911, ran outside to get the address while it rang, and after 30+ seconds answer I g questions and answering questions (which felt like 2+ minutes at the time), they had me start CPR. Never taken a class before.
Paramedics arrived 7 minutes later.
They used an automated chest compression machine, shocked her many times, and got some kind of signal.
Arrived to the ER still in code blue.
Turns out it was a SCAD event. 90% of women that have one die even if they get cpr.
Somehow my gf made it, and was released to home 3 days later after 2 days in the ICU. She had a stent installed within an hour of getting to the ER.
The fire department put together a reunion with the dispatcher, me, my gf, the firefighters that arrived first and did the whole thing, and the EMT team, because they say it’s not often someone survives full cardiac arrest outside a hospital.
Better yet take a first aid and CPR course every 2 years from now until they tell you that you are physically unable to do it anymore. It isn't fun, but it also only takes a few hours and if you ever need it you will want plenty of by standers around who jump in to help until emergency services arrive.
I once killed a kitten and then brought it back from the dead with CPR.
It was a stray that showed up, was covered in fleas. I decided to bathe it and it didnt occur to me that cold/room temp water would not be good for it. It was fighting but I just assumed it didnt like the water. Then it just went limp.
Quickly googled CPR cat, saw something in the (pre-AI) preview thing about blow into its nostrils (the chest was quite surprisingly inflating like a balloon without much force), and just started doing that while poking/pinching its heart area. Some amount of time later - could have been 5 seconds or 45 - it sputtered back to life.
I found it a foster shortly after. I have significant allergies to cat hair, scratches etc...
I learned how to CPR by watching The Office... staying alive
Learned this a long time ago in the boyscout manual
Are there any studies about the efficacy of this technique. Or even, you know, a reputable source for it?
This should be taught more. I can imagine some uniformed people trying to interfere with raising the legs.
Yes, I can help.
Why am I holding their legs in the air?
Well I read it on hacker news once.
Hacker news, oh it collates techy/stem blog posts and articles.
I don't know if the author of this post had any medical credentials.
I can see why it doesn't look like they knew what they were writing about.
I wonder how small or quantized would a llm have to be to hallucinate such a stupid thing
Didn't read but bookmarked for later in case something happens and I need it.
This information is outdated, wrong, and DANGEROUS.
Lifting the legs (aka shock position) has no effect and has been taken out of most first-aid guidelines for a reason.
The post also mentions "60 times a minute" when doing CPR. This is WAY to slow. Ideally you should push down 100-120 times a minute. If you do it 60 times a minutes you will not be able to generate enough blood pressure and the blood will not circulate - which is the goal of CPR.
The most important things you can do for someone during a cardiac arrest is: - Call 911 / call for help - Do CPR - If there is an AED nearby - get someone to fetch it, turn it on and follow instructions
For the love of god, do not just stand there with the legs in the air.