As a paramedic, 9 times out of 10 when we arrive on scene for a cardiac arrest, the people on scene are not doing CPR properly.
The most common mistake is they’re not pushing hard enough on the patients sternum.
After only 4 to 6 minutes in cardiac arrest without proper CPR, the brain starts lacking oxygen and starts necrosis (in simple words, your brain cells start to die). The damages to the brain cells are irreversible.
Also, if someone is in cardiac arrest, there's 10% less chances of survival for every minute without proper CPR.
When someone goes into cardiac arrest, every second counts. Often people think that the emergency services will get on scene fast enough to save the patient, it's far from always being the case, especially in rural areas (sad reality).
In most urban areas, it takes around 7 minutes before emergency services get on scene from the time you dial 911 for a cardiac arrest.
Like mentioned earlier, after 4 to 6 minutes in cardiac arrest without proper CPR, the brain cells start to die and the damages to the brain are irreversible. The chances of survival are very low if someone is in cardiac arrest more than 5 minutes without proper CPR and almost inexistent if someone is in cardiac arrest for 10 minutes or more.
Moral of this story; if proper CPR is not started before the emergency services gets on scene, the chances of survival of the patient is very low.
Personal story, the 5 cases of cardiac arrest that I was able to resuscitate since the beginning of my career in 2015, they were rather patients that became in cardiac arrest in front of us or the witnesses on scene were doing CPR probably before we arrived.
I know 5 cases that I was able to resuscitate doesn't sound like a lot, but that’s pretty much the average for an 8 year experience paramedic. One resuscitation every year is better than the average I would say for any paramedic in North America.
Moral of this story; if everyone knows how to do CPR probably, a lot more people would have a chance of surviving if their heart stops.
The city in the world with the highest resuscitation rate if you do a witnessed cardiac arrest is Seattle.
The resuscitation rate for a witnessed cardiac arrest is 62% versus the national average that is 27%.
The main reasons: the huge difference in the survival rate is not because there's more emergency services available, it's because there's automatic external defibrillators (AED) available almost everywhere and a large amount of the population knows how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
In every CPR and first aid course that we teach, we always tell the group to never underestimate themselves and that they’re the ones that can make a difference if someone falls into cardiac arrest. Often when the emergency services get on scene, it's too late if no one if doing proper CPR.
So why follow a CPR course?
Because it triples the chances of survival of the patient,
Because each minute counts,
Because it’s easy,
Because more knowledge = more lives given a chance!
