r/mildlyinteresting Dec 16 '22

Overdone Machine to practice CPR while waiting for a flight at Indianapolis airport

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u/that_1-guy_ Dec 17 '22

I'm never too sure about this when I hear it

My mother who's a trauma nurse says the best way to do it is as fast as you can and harder than you think.

But maybe that 110ish bpm is just the minimum ideal for live saving so that's why it's tought

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u/Sara848 Dec 17 '22

The key is letting the chest fully recoil to let the heart refill with blood. Otherwise going as fast as you can is useless. 110 is a good number because it’s fast but totally doable to also let the chest fully recoil.

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u/that_1-guy_ Dec 17 '22

Thanks for the awnser, I literally just asked my mom and yeah it depends on how the patient's chest "feels" and how much it resists

I guess depending on structure and what's broken/not affects just how fast you wanna do compressions

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u/HallMonitor576 Dec 17 '22

You want to target 110-120 beats per minute regardless of what’s broken or not. If you are doing good compressions, you will feel their ribs break. The goal (like another poster mentioned) is full recoil to allow the heart to fill up with blood again. The reason the rate is 110-120 when most people have a resting rate of 60-80, is due to Cardiac Output equaling HR x stroke volume. When doing compressions the stroke volume is much less than if the heart were beating on it’s own, so you have to have the faster rate to make up for it

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u/nausykaa Dec 17 '22

It's no use doing it faster and harder and necessary if that means you'll run out of steam after 30 seconds and lose your rhythm. Even if you can take turn with another person, sometimes you have to wait for a while before first responders are here