Quote Originally Posted by Joe_Friday View Post
I will have to agree with TacMedic4450 and disagree with most on here on the CPR issue. I have a few Life Save ribbons and certificates to prove that CPR does work and that patients can walk out of the hospital and continue thier lives. My father-in-law is a prime example. He is retired out of the Army and has been so for around 15 years, he is very overwieght, and does not follow any type of fitness routine. While in FL for work he went into cardiac arrest in the parking lot of a restraunt and his coworkers performed CPR. Poorly I might add, as one of them even stated that he did a Precordial Thump because he saw it done on TV and they inserted a pocket knife in his mouth to open the airway. The Med Unit arrived 8 minutes later and attempted intubatiuon and IV therapy and were unsuccesful on both counts. They continued with much better CPR and O2 and transported. He walked out 9 days later. So, immediate CPR + no O2 + no Meds + total time from collapse to EC being over 20 minutes = Save. I know it's not typical but it does happen.

Another case. I ran back up to another unit where the patient went into CA in a gym. Two people began CPR immediately (Trauma Surgeon and Cardiologist, what luck huh!) and the first unit shocked on scene. We arrived and a second shock was delivered. When I went to establish an IV access point the patient tried to sit up on the stretcher and said "what the hell are you doin'!". Before leaving the scene he had told us all the info we needed and how to contact his wife. He is still alive today (happened about 5 years ago) and he is doing well. I talked with him two weeks later and he actually told me everything that had happened form the instant that he collapsed until he "woke up". Sounds crazy but I was the only person that he had talked to that had been there and when I asked the first in medics about what he said, they agreed with all of it. I now take a different approach to what I say in front of all patients, living or deceased.
The discussion is TRAUMA ARRESTS. I've been a Paramedic since 1990 and have never seen nor do I know a single medic that has had a successful TRAUMA ARREST. And what I mean by successful is they walk out of the hospital.

Never, not once.

It's a myth and not worth banking time and energy on. Medicine in a gun fight is about what is appropriate at the time and based on historic responses to known treatment modalities in that type incident.

What works occasionally in the back of your conventional EMS rig has no promise in tactical combat casualty care.