Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Compressionator

Here's an interesting little article on one of those new-fangled, automatic CPR doohickies that's just been adopted by a fire service out in California.  I've see a couple different types of these devices make their way through the Big City ED, and they're pretty impressive, if not a little scary.  They seem like a great way to ensure adequate depth and rate of compressions, while freeing up a medic's hands for other vital tasks and generally looking like they'll snap the patient in half.

I completely agree with the medic quoted in the article when he says he could get a pulse on a rock with one of these things!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We call this the "geezer squeezer."

Cold, but accurate.

Ninja Pharmer said...

What the manufacturers don't tell you is that your pulseless patient's head and extremities will bounce up and down off the stretcher with each compression. It can be slightly disturbing for family members and/or the untrained non-medically inclined bystander to witness, as we found out the hard way.