I believe that if the BLS curriculum were changed to teach what current resuscitation science teaches, many tens of thousand more people in North America would survive cardiac arrests than currently do. ("Survive" means "Get discharged from the hospital with major brain functions intact - i.e., with a CPC score of 1 or 2.")
Very few people perform CPR properly: the rate is too slow, the interruptions are too frequent and too long, and the compression depth is too shallow. There are ways to increase significantly the length of time that an average person can perform CPR correctly.
The CARES data shows us that two-thirds of all out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur in the home. Survival data shows that two percent of OOHSCA's occurring in the home have a survival outcome.
The Pheonix, AZ Airport has averaged a 75% survival rate for ten years.
Perhaps it's time to re-think what we take on faith as being the solution to the problem.
Bob
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