How is CPR Performed Differently When an Advanced Airway Is in Place?

How is CPR Performed Differently When an Advanced Airway Is in Place?

Answer:

CPR is different if an advanced airway is in place from several aspects. Those are discussed below.

Ventilation is performed, through an ambu bag connected to an endotracheal tube’s connector or the ventilation port of the supraglottic airway device rather than by mouth-to-mouth breathing or with the use of a pocket mask. All of the breaths should be taken in 1 second and enough volume to make the chest rise should be inhaled. There is no need to place the seal over the mouth like in the case with the normal bag-mask breath because gases are directly going to the lungs through the advanced airway. This enables the oxygen to directly oxygenate the lungs and hence there is increased efficiency. Current guidelines for chest compressions remain the same; the hands are placed on the lower part of the sternum; the rate of 100-120/minute and the depth must be at least 2 inches but not more than 2. 4 inches. A ratio of 30: 2 for compression-ventilation carries forward for the CPR performed by a single rescuer in the adult patients. However, it is important to reduce the interruption of chest compressions; and make sure the CPR being performed is of good quality. This ranges from permitting the chest to recoil fully between compressions, reducing downtime to below 10 seconds in total and changing the person applying the chest compressions every 2 minutes to avoid exhaustion. Having an advanced airway also means more uninterrupted chest compressions can be given because, with advanced airway intubation, ventilations do not need to be done with the rescuer having to provide mouth-to-mouth breathing interruptions for the victim.