Using resuscitation mask in water

[Tigerman]

Chest compressions only is something relatively new. I'm not sure about PADI... but both Red Cross/Crescent and St. John's are starting to teach the no-breaths in their first-aid courses. The idea is that the act of compressing the chest should be enough to exchange air... and so that the rescuer only has to focus on compressions.

On another note, they've finally stopped telling people to check for a pulse; too many people couldn't find it in the best of conditions.

Chest compressions only are whats teached now, EXCEPT for drowning victims. Given the fact that diving happens in water, I doubt PADI (or other scuba agencies) will move to compressions only...

 

[DiverRtNY]

I just want to note that chest compression only resuscitation is NOT for drowning or near drowning victims. In those cases, attempting ventilation is still recommended. That said, I work in an ER, and I have seen how difficult it is to deliver effective breaths, even when standing on dry land, behind a dry patient, with a proper mask and training. The idea that someone in the water can rear up over the diver, establish a good mask seal, and deliver any kind of effective ventilation is to me completely absurd. If someone is in the water and not breathing, they're in really serious trouble, because they almost certainly don't have a pulse, either. GET THEM TO A SURFACE WHERE YOU CAN DO CPR.

I agree... how many times, being someone from an ED, do you actually see CPR being effective? And with the patients that it seemed to be effective, how many were actually in cardiac arrest? Nothing like performing CPR on someone who never truly lost their pulse. And the ones who did make it, how many had anoxic brain injury? If it doesn't impede the speed of getting a victim to dry land than go for it. At least you can say you did "everything you could". I saw your post from 2008 in regards to RTs even having trouble properly sealing for bag mask ventilation and getting sufficient chest rise... true that. CPR just hopefully keeps circulation going until ACLS is available.