Why should we switch chest compression providers every 2 minutes during cardiopulmonary resuscitation?

Abstract

Objective. This study was conducted to determine whether trained male rescuers could maintain adequate chest compression depth (CCD) for longer than the current recommended guidelines of 2 minutes. Methods. Forty male medical doctors administered a 5-minute single rescuer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a manikin on the floor with conventional CPR or randomly administered continuous chest compressions (CCC). The ratio of compression to ventilation was set to 30:2 with mouth-to-mouth technique during conventional CPR. Chest compression data were recorded with an accelerometer device and divided into 1-minute segments for analysis. Results. Although average CCD maintained the recommended depths throughout 5 minutes in conventional CPR, it decreased significantly with Ca; (1 minute: 55.4 +/- 4.5 mm; 2 minutes: 54.2 +/- 5.4 mm; 3 minutes: 52.6 +/- 5.6 mm; 4 minutes: 51.6 +/- 5.5 mm; 5 minutes: 49.9 +/- 5.8 mm, p < 0.001). The average chest compression numbers (ACCN) per minute were maintained over 80/min and have not been changed significantly within 5 minutes in the CCC. However, it didn't reach to the 80/min and decreased significantly after 3minutes compared to the baseline ACCN during first 1-minute segment ill the conventional CPR. Conclusions. Despite the chest compression providers being limited to trained male medical doctors, the average CCD decreased significantly within 5minutes with CCC. Although maintaining adequate CCD, ACCN in each minute decreased significantly after 3minutes in the conventional CPR. Therefore, we should rotate chest compression providers every 2minutes regardless of the rescuer's qualifications and CPR methods.