Bee Gees' 'Staying Alive' the key to nurse Louise Price's CPR heroism - Psychiatric nurse Louise Price risked her life to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation
The heroic endeavours of psychiatric nurse Louise Price should be an inspiration to all – especially those in the emergency services who feel constrained from doing their job by health and safety regulations.
Seemingly oblivious to her own safety, she climbed into the back of a fuel-soaked overturned van where Adam Brinkworth was lying with a fractured arm and jaw. She tore strips off her clothes to act as a tourniquet, and when he stopped breathing performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the ambulance arrived.
To maintain the constant rhythm required when administering CPR, it can help to hum along to the Bee Gees’ disco hit 'Staying Alive'
For those apprehensive of what to do in – God forbid – similar circumstances, it is useful to know the practicalities of CPR have recently been much simplified. The purpose is no longer to try to restart the heart rhythm but rather mimic its function of pumping blood up to the brain. The complexities of mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration are no longer considered essential; rather, the emphasis is on a compression-only technique of direct pressure on the sternum at the rate of 100 beats per minute. It can help in maintaining that constant rhythm to hum along to (appropriately enough) the Bee Gees’ disco hit Staying Alive or (less appropriately) Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. This method, the Lancet reported, improves the chances of survival by almost a quarter.
The gentleman who felt “shock, inner cold and weakness of the legs” every time he had to have another blood test experiences a phobia to needles (and often the sight of blood as well) known as trypanophobia. Interestingly, this takes two forms. For around a third of those affected, the prospect of a blood test or injection induces a panic attack with palpitations, sweating and so on – a classic, specific phobia, like arachnophobia with spiders.
But for the other two thirds, the fear is not of the needle but its effects: the prospect of it puncturing the skin induces a vasovagal response, with a rising heart rate and fall in blood pressure that culminates in a fainting episode. This type tends to run in families and is associated with a generalised disorder of the regulatory autonomic nervous system.
Sonny Liston, the boxing champion, and Jackie Chan, the martial arts film star, both had this form of needle phobia – which accounts for the well-recognised scenario during an army medical in which a beefy tattooed warrior keels over while standing in line for his shots.
This is no trivial matter, as it discourages those affected from seeking medical attention, and has been responsible for a couple of dozen fatalities. Treatment options include the application of a local anaesthetic cream or patch to deaden the pain, a hefty dose of a tranquilliser, and the technique of applied muscle tension to prevent the precipitous fall in blood pressure. This involves first tensing the muscles in arms, legs and body by making a fist with the hands, scrunching the toes and pushing the heels into the floor for 10-15 seconds and then relaxing for half a minute. This should be repeated five times before injecting.
Finally, a medical colleague recalls from his childhood the early morning ritual – no doubt practised in millions of households – whereby, in the winter months, his mother would administer a spoonful of both malt and cod liver oil to her three boys before they rushed out of the door to catch the school bus. He speculates that this daily booster dose of vitamins A and D and omega 3 fatty acids (from the cod liver oil), and vitamins B2 to B12, zinc, magnesium and phosphorous (from the malt), might have prevented numerous coughs, sore throats, bone fractures, bouts of eczema and conjunctivitis and much else besides.
However, this “street medicine” seems to have disappeared over the past 40 years; why, he wonders, when parents are more solicitous about the health of their children than ever? ( telegraph.co.uk )
The heroic endeavours of psychiatric nurse Louise Price should be an inspiration to all – especially those in the emergency services who feel constrained from doing their job by health and safety regulations.
Seemingly oblivious to her own safety, she climbed into the back of a fuel-soaked overturned van where Adam Brinkworth was lying with a fractured arm and jaw. She tore strips off her clothes to act as a tourniquet, and when he stopped breathing performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the ambulance arrived.
To maintain the constant rhythm required when administering CPR, it can help to hum along to the Bee Gees’ disco hit 'Staying Alive'
For those apprehensive of what to do in – God forbid – similar circumstances, it is useful to know the practicalities of CPR have recently been much simplified. The purpose is no longer to try to restart the heart rhythm but rather mimic its function of pumping blood up to the brain. The complexities of mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration are no longer considered essential; rather, the emphasis is on a compression-only technique of direct pressure on the sternum at the rate of 100 beats per minute. It can help in maintaining that constant rhythm to hum along to (appropriately enough) the Bee Gees’ disco hit Staying Alive or (less appropriately) Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. This method, the Lancet reported, improves the chances of survival by almost a quarter.
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The gentleman who felt “shock, inner cold and weakness of the legs” every time he had to have another blood test experiences a phobia to needles (and often the sight of blood as well) known as trypanophobia. Interestingly, this takes two forms. For around a third of those affected, the prospect of a blood test or injection induces a panic attack with palpitations, sweating and so on – a classic, specific phobia, like arachnophobia with spiders.
But for the other two thirds, the fear is not of the needle but its effects: the prospect of it puncturing the skin induces a vasovagal response, with a rising heart rate and fall in blood pressure that culminates in a fainting episode. This type tends to run in families and is associated with a generalised disorder of the regulatory autonomic nervous system.
Sonny Liston, the boxing champion, and Jackie Chan, the martial arts film star, both had this form of needle phobia – which accounts for the well-recognised scenario during an army medical in which a beefy tattooed warrior keels over while standing in line for his shots.
This is no trivial matter, as it discourages those affected from seeking medical attention, and has been responsible for a couple of dozen fatalities. Treatment options include the application of a local anaesthetic cream or patch to deaden the pain, a hefty dose of a tranquilliser, and the technique of applied muscle tension to prevent the precipitous fall in blood pressure. This involves first tensing the muscles in arms, legs and body by making a fist with the hands, scrunching the toes and pushing the heels into the floor for 10-15 seconds and then relaxing for half a minute. This should be repeated five times before injecting.
----------------------------
Finally, a medical colleague recalls from his childhood the early morning ritual – no doubt practised in millions of households – whereby, in the winter months, his mother would administer a spoonful of both malt and cod liver oil to her three boys before they rushed out of the door to catch the school bus. He speculates that this daily booster dose of vitamins A and D and omega 3 fatty acids (from the cod liver oil), and vitamins B2 to B12, zinc, magnesium and phosphorous (from the malt), might have prevented numerous coughs, sore throats, bone fractures, bouts of eczema and conjunctivitis and much else besides.
However, this “street medicine” seems to have disappeared over the past 40 years; why, he wonders, when parents are more solicitous about the health of their children than ever? ( telegraph.co.uk )
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