Fatality at Dartmouth

[JumbleDuck]

https://www.resus.org.uk/resuscitation-guidelines/adult-advanced-life-support/#duration suggests 20 mins.

You should perhaps have pointed out that that forms part of the advice to trained and qualified clinicians, not bystanders

How good are you at diagnosing asystole for more than 20 minutes in the absence of a reversible cause and with ongoing ALS? Would you like to tell a couple of grieving parents that you stopped CPR on their child after twenty minutes because you couldn't see the point, then have them read this:

Two people on a boat heading to a lee shore, your call.

How much do you like the victim? More or less than the boat?

 

[[70521]]

Would you like to tell a couple of grieving parents that you stopped CPR on their child after twenty minutes because you couldn't see the point, then have them read this:

That is the most difficult news to break, don't ask how I know. When you are totally exhausted then it is time to stop. If you last 20 mins single handed then you are a fitter person than most.

How much do you like the victim? More or less than the boat?

Personally, I prefer the RNLI/CG Helicopter picks up one body not two.

 

[Stemar]

You should perhaps have pointed out that that forms part of the advice to trained and qualified clinicians, not bystanders

How good are you at diagnosing asystole for more than 20 minutes in the absence of a reversible cause and with ongoing ALS? Would you like to tell a couple of grieving parents that you stopped CPR on their child after twenty minutes because you couldn't see the point, then have them read this:

How much do you like the victim? More or less than the boat?

The first part of casualty assessment is Danger. You help no one by becoming a casualty yourself. If leaving the boat to its own devices means drifting gently onto a sandy beach in a bilge keeler, it's one thing, if it's going onto the rocks in a 6 or more, it's quite another.

Out of interest, how many of you have:

1 Done CPR for real?
2 Done it on a small boat in a rough sea?

I've been a trained first aider since I was in short trousers, but I've never needed to use it other than to glue my kids back together when they fell off their bikes.

 

[Spyro]

Don't I know it! I did my first, first aid course at the age of 12, over 40 years ago, and it was lead by one of the doctors at the Belford Hospital in Fort William, mum was a nurse there, we started with a punch to the heart. Since then the compressions to blows ratios have been a movable feast. We now have the Vinnie Jones and Pretenders soundtracks to work with.

And it's almost impossible to count when you're singing.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've worked at times as a construction site manager and qualified first aider. During that time the most serious treatment I had to administer was a blob of Savlon and a plaster. Prevention is better than cure.

 

[JumbleDuck]

The first part of casualty assessment is Danger. You help no one by becoming a casualty yourself. If leaving the boat to its own devices means drifting gently onto a sandy beach in a bilge keeler, it's one thing, if it's going onto the rocks in a 6 or more, it's quite another.

Of course. That's what I was getting at - there are times when you could keep on doing CPR at the cost of damage to the boat but without actually endangering your own life more.

Out of interest, how many of you have:

1 Done CPR for real?
2 Done it on a small boat in a rough sea?

I've been a trained first aider since I was in short trousers, but I've never needed to use it other than to glue my kids back together when they fell off their bikes.

Never. My other half has had to deal with a compound fracture of a skateboarder's leg.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The first part of casualty assessment is Danger. You help no one by becoming a casualty yourself. If leaving the boat to its own devices means drifting gently onto a sandy beach in a bilge keeler, it's one thing, if it's going onto the rocks in a 6 or more, it's quite another.

Out of interest, how many of you have:

1 Done CPR for real?
2 Done it on a small boat in a rough sea?

I've been a trained first aider since I was in short trousers, but I've never needed to use it other than to glue my kids back together when they fell off their bikes.

I have never needed to do major first aid, beyond skinned knees when my children were little. But my Dad was a First Aid instructor in the old Civil Defence (my brother and I were "casualties" at several exercises, and there were some rather lurid booklets about how to make people up to look as if they were seriously injured around the house!). As he spent all day, every day on the road, he was occasionally first responder at car accidents. We could always tell when that had happened - he came home not wanting to talk much about his day.

 

[[70521]]

And it's almost impossible to count when you're singing.

You don't want to be within 10 miles of me when I sing as I can't.

It's all about the rhythm! As long as you can count to four you will be fine. Four bars then breath for two or six bars then breath.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I have never needed to do major first aid, beyond skinned knees when my children were little. But my Dad was a First Aid instructor in the old Civil Defence (my brother and I were "casualties" at several exercises, and there were some rather lurid booklets about how to make people up to look as if they were seriously injured around the house!).

A colleague of mine used to earn her living as an actor-victim (is that the term?). Any thing from one of a mass of casualties after a "terrorist attack" to a road traffic accident victim. It's quite a skilled job, because as well as feigning the symptoms - she's an actor - they have to know first aid well enough to be able to "respond" to treatment. Which in some cases means saying "You've just missed internal bleeding and killed me. Thanks."

As he spent all day, every day on the road, he was occasionally first responder at car accidents. We could always tell when that had happened - he came home not wanting to talk much about his day.

A friend of mine used to have to supervise the clear up after rail accidents. On his first day out of training with BR he was sent out to deal with a suicide. "I found the head" he told me that evening, rather shocked.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

A colleague of mine used to earn her living as an actor-victim (is that the term?). Any thing from one of a mass of casualties after a "terrorist attack" to a road traffic accident victim. It's quite a skilled job, because as well as feigning the symptoms - she's an actor - they have to know first aid well enough to be able to "respond" to treatment. Which in some cases means saying "You've just missed internal bleeding and killed me. Thanks."



A friend of mine used to have to supervise the clear up after rail accidents. On his first day out of training with BR he was sent out to deal with a suicide. "I found the head" he told me that evening, rather shocked.

The First Aid course I went on used actors to simulate situations; very instructive! Especially as it was easy to get carried away with the exercise and suddenly realize that you'd been man-handling a young lady in ways that would be quite inappropriate under other circumstances. I recall being very apologetic once the exercise was over!

My uncle worked on the railways, starting pre WWII. Fairly early on he had to help clear up after a fatality on the railway; apparently in those days the ambulance didn't assist if the casualty was clearly dead. I gather it was a pretty bad experience to gather up the bits of a body that had been under the wheels.

 

[Blue Sunray]

I've done a few CASSIMs involving these people and their ilk, about as close as you can get to the real thing in a practice, and very good value for those that need it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/berkshi...s/arts_and_culture/newsid_8387000/8387235.stm

 

[ghostlymoron]

This is all getting rather gruesome. We should all remember that a popular local character has died and try to think how this situation could be avoided in future.

 

[davidpbo]

And it's almost impossible to count when you're singing.

One verse then a couple of breaths isn't it. No need to count.

 

[Blue Sunray]

This is all getting rather gruesome. We should all remember that a popular local character has died and try to think how this situation could be avoided in future.

Oh dear, frightfully sorry old chap.

 

[JumbleDuck]

My uncle worked on the railways, starting pre WWII. Fairly early on he had to help clear up after a fatality on the railway; apparently in those days the ambulance didn't assist if the casualty was clearly dead. I gather it was a pretty bad experience to gather up the bits of a body that had been under the wheels.

Well, since you ask, the worst story went "The undertakers hadn't arrived when the police finished, so we decided to move the body off the line ourselves. I grabbed the hands and was dragging the torso to one side when it seemed to get lighter. I looked down and all his intestines had fallen out."

Actually, that's very far from being the worst story, but I don't even want to think about the worst story.

I used to work in a lab which tested joint prostheses. We had a freezer full of bits of people. I felt very queasy the first time I saw one in the test rig, but after a while it became routine. Human meat looks much the same as any other.

 

[Offgridone]

Poor guy. Xx