Sorry about the ribs, but I'm glad they were trained well. Proper CPR breaks ribs.
I helped rescue a drowning man once. I pulled him from the water (he had been under a few minutes), and long story short, other folks did the CPR, and later a defib. The man died, but I had the impression his ribs survived.
It was like doing weird cardio, to a rhythm, while panicking that if your form is bad you will kill someone. Oh, and I stopped every couple of seconds to expell my entire breath into his mouth
FYI, in case it ever becomes relevant (hopefully not!), the standards for breath to compression ratios have changed. Last I heard about a decade ago, they had moved to 30:1 (compression:breath).
Turns out it's vastly more important to circulate blood than to give breaths, and additionally many people fail to deliver any breath, as it's trickier.
I appreciate that reminder. And for clearly pointing that out to future readers of this post.
For context, this was before the standards changed. I'm glad the standards reduced the amount of breathing (to make room for more heart pumping). Either way, it wouldn't have made a difference in my situation: the patient had a brain aneurysm with a "<1% chance of survival even it it happened in the ER"
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Also, for future readers:
The probability that an amateur using CPR saves someone's life is 1:10,000
For paramedics, it is 1:1,000
So if your person dies, go easy on yourself and get some therapy
Sorry about the ribs, but I'm glad they were trained well. Proper CPR breaks ribs.
I helped rescue a drowning man once. I pulled him from the water (he had been under a few minutes), and long story short, other folks did the CPR, and later a defib. The man died, but I had the impression his ribs survived.
Very glad to hear your outcome was different.