Why we should all know CPR | Expert Opinion
This Philadelphia doctor was nervous about using CPR at first, too. But it's a lifesaving skill that everyone should learn.
As any new provider would, I used to experience a flood of anxiety whenever I heard an overhead announcement in the hospital about a medical emergency.
“Your attention please. Code call. Code call.”
That meant that somewhere in the hospital, a patient had lost their pulse, and CPR had begun.
On my way over, I would hurriedly review the range of possibilities that could have caused someone to suddenly lose their pulse.
Could it be due to dangerously low oxygen levels? Or dangerously high potassium levels? Was this patient bleeding or having a heart attack? Could it be a large clot blocking the blood from flowing through the lungs? Most of the time, at the onset of an event like this, we have no way of being sure what the cause is.
Now, after responding to many “code calls,” the way I feel about these emergencies has changed.
I have more experience and greater confidence in my ability to navigate these inherently distressing circumstances. But I also have greater confidence in the effectiveness of CPR.
Immediate CPR can double or triple the chance of that person’s survival. Even if I don’t know what caused the patient’s cardiac event, I feel confident that I’ll give them the best chance of rebounding if I focus on providing fast, effective CPR. So, instead of responding to medical emergencies with anxiety, I try to talk calmly throughout the encounter, knowing that one of my colleagues may be responding to a code call for the first time.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of the hospital in the United States every year, and less than half receive CPR from bystanders.
Often, our instinct when there is a medical emergency is to freeze and hope that someone more experienced will take control of the situation. It takes a lot to rush into the center of an emergency and to start performing lifesaving measures, even as a surgeon-in-training.
But for us to really be there for each other, we need to develop a greater collective preparedness. Our relationship with CPR can change, if we take the time to learn and practice the skill.
The more I learned about CPR, the more I understood its importance, and the more assertive and helpful I became to others.
It’s hard to find the time to prepare a skill you will hopefully never need. But that’s the nature of medical emergencies. They happen unexpectedly, and the outcome often depends on bystanders knowing what to do. Let’s know what to do.
Jason Han is a cardiac surgery resident at a Philadelphia hospital and contributor to The Inquirer’s Health section.