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Three Part Question

[In paediatric cardiac arrests] do [APLS trained staff] deliver [more effective chest compressions]?

Clinical Scenario

A 4 year old boy in cardiac arrest is brought into the ED as a standby. CPR has been delivered by the ambulance crew en route. Whilst he is being intubated, cardiac compression is carrried out by one of the APLS trained paediatric nurses, but once she tires, it is continued by another staff nurse with no paediatric training. You wonder whether chest compression is more effective in children if delivered by an ATLS trained professional.

Search Strategy

MEDLINE OVID INTERFACE 1966-AUG 2006
paediatric cpr.af. OR pediatric cpr.af. OR apls.af. OR pls.af. OR paediatric life support.af. OR pediatric life support.af.OR neonatal cpr.af. OR resuscitation.af. OR exp Cardiopulmonary resuscitation/ OR exp Heart arrest/ OR cardiopulmonary resuscitation.mp. OR heart arrest.mp.
OR cpr.af. OR exp cpr/ OR resuscitation.af.
AND depth of compression.af. OR effectiveness of compression.af. OR (depth adj5 compression).af. OR (effectiveness adj5 compression).af. OR chest compression$.af. OR exp heart massage/
limit to humans and english

Search Outcome

901 articles found, none relevant

Comment(s)

The ability to carry out effective chest compressions in a cardiac arrest scenario is vital. It would seem likely that those staff who are involved more frequently in arrest situations, would be more experienced at carrying out compressions.

Clinical Bottom Line

There is no evidence that APLS trained staff deliver more effective compressions.