Rescue Breath

[Guba]

The last near drowning in which I was involved was a little girl (not a diver) who was brought up not breathing, but with a faint, fluttery pulse. All she required was to open and clear her airway, administer two initial breaths, and then the standard breath every five seconds for only three cycles...she coughed up water, took some breaths on her own and began crying.

Music to my ears.

For some divers, it may be possible that's all they would need, hence the suggestion to get some air in the lungs. However, it also makes sense to get them on the boat/shore ASAP in order to do a proper job.

 

[Thalassamania]

Research on CPR has shown that the standard protocol of two mouth-to-mouth breaths of 5 seconds is impossible to accomplish. The average person needs 16 seconds, and even highly trained paramedics can't do it in less than 14. Add to that the difficulties of performing mtm in the water and it appears to make more sense to get the victim on the boat asap and then do proper CPR. The most important thing to remember is that if the person has no pulse, you can breathe into their lungs all day long but the oxygen doesn't go anywhere. That's why chest compressions are more important than "rescue" breathing, to get that blood moving around.

Without a reference I don't know what reasearch you're citing, but it is relatively easy to meet that spec with mouth to snorkel. But you are right, breaths beyond the first one or two will not help if there's no circulation.

 

[nereas]

Everything I have heard agrees with this emphatically. In fact, the most recent protocols are for chest compressions only, without taking time for the occasional rescue breaths.

So why bother with in water rescue breaths?

I asked that question, and basically it came down to "hope."

1. In some near drowning situations, a few rescue breaths result in the victim vomiting and resuming breathing on his or her own. You hope this happens.

2. You cannot tell if the patient has a pulse, but you hope there is one.

If you have any chance of getting the victim to a place where chest compressions can be given in a reasonable amount of time, that is your best option. If I have someone in that situation, I will instead be doing the fastest tow I can possibly do.

I would begin the rescue breaths immediately upon surfacing with the victim, after ditching the victim's weight belt. Then after two or three breaths, I would check the neck for a pulse. That then would determine what I would do next.

 

[boulderjohn]

I would begin the rescue breaths immediately upon surfacing with the victim, after ditching the victim's weight belt. Then after two or three breaths, I would check the neck for a pulse. That then would determine what I would do next.

I have never actually had to do this with a real victim, but the standard information you learn in rescue class is that it is so hard to detect a pulse in the water that checking for it is a waste of time.

 

[nereas]

I have never actually had to do this with a real victim, but the standard information you learn in rescue class is that it is so hard to detect a pulse in the water that checking for it is a waste of time.

Other people's standards have never impressed me very much. Therefore I generally prefer to think for myself, and to teach students what I would do rather than what some author of a manual has written.

Take off your glove from your right hand, which should be unincumbered by any instrumentation (I wear all my gauges on my left wrist), and reach under the victim's hood (if he/she is wearing a hood and if you are wearing gloves), and stick your finger deep beside her/his windpipe, and if there is a pulse then you will feel it. If you practice this next time you are in the water with someone after the dive, you will see.

A body without a pulse is in temporary refrigeration and then rescue breaths would do no good. You are then going to need to get to shore more quickly and start chest compressions once on the beach, without wasting any time.

 

[Thalassamania]

Other people's standards have never impressed me very much. Therefore I generally prefer to think for myself, and to teach students what I would do rather than what some author of a manual has written.

Take off your glove from your right hand, which should be unincumbered by any instrumentation (I wear all my gauges on my left wrist), and reach under the victim's hood (if he/she is wearing a hood and if you are wearing gloves), and stick your finger deep beside her/his windpipe, and if there is a pulse then you will feel it. If you practice this next time you are in the water with someone after the dive, you will see.

A body without a pulse is in temporary refrigeration and then rescue breaths would do no good. You are then going to need to get to shore more quickly and start chest compressions once on the beach, without wasting any time.

This is all quite irrelvent, as you begin to point out, " A body without a pulse is in temporary refrigeration." As we say, "there are no cold dead bodies, only warm dead bodies." Until you've reheated you need to assume a pulse.