CPR Board

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PeteBlair

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My textbook talks about a CPR board but does not answer all of my questions. Can this device be used to provide enough support so that it can be used on a standard mattress, or must the patient be placed on a hard surface such as a floor?
 
If we're talking about the same thing, then the CPR board is designed to be placed under a patient to enable compressions on a hospital bed or ambulance cot.
 
OK, but how about a bed at the patient's home?
 
Dependent on the situation, protocols, etc, I'd put them on a longboard. From there they can go to the cot if its a load and go, or to the floor if you work the code on scene.

The benefit of the long board is that it becomes much easier to move the patient, while still providing a hard surface. The CPR board provides the surface, but also does not support the rest of the patient's body.

Every code I've seen prehospital involved the patient being placed on a longboard PTA by first responders on scene.

I know some EMS services used to keep a short spine board (different than a CPR board) under the mattress at the head of the cot for CPR, but I'm not sure we even carry short boards on all of our trucks anymore.
 
same here...

pt gets put on an LSB...

there is no way to do effective compressions on anything other than a hard surface, and the LSB provides the easiest way to transfer the pt from home to rig to hospital, if they're fortunate to get that far...
 
Let's see if I understand what you are saying... A reasonable thing to do when faced with a CPR situation, where the patient is at home in bed, is to log roll them, in the bed, on to a LSB (again, on the bed) and begin the chest compressions. Is that what you (sky... and rm...) are saying?
 
they may have already been place on the floor, because you need leverage to do good compressions... but yes, they will end up on the LSB...

keep in mind, you are saying "log roll", but you getting them on the board the fastest way possible, and you are not worried about a proper "roll" onto the board... it's not a spinal precaution thing, it's a "we need to get good compressions now!" thing...

hope that helps.
 
We have CPR short boards on our rigs. Basically, they're old wooden backboards that were cut in half to give us something to work with. I've used it twice, both times for patient's that coded in the back of the rig.
 
PeteBlair said:
Why head blocks?
Click to expand...

Well maybe I am wrong, but keeping their head-in-line keeping a patent airway after it has been secured (advanced airway or simple (depending on your service)

Am I wrong?
 
Last code I ran, pt was not placed in c-spine precautions, just on the longboard.

I haven't really heard of using blocks and collars simply b/c its a code.
 
rmellish said:
I haven't really heard of using blocks and collars simply b/c its a code.
Click to expand...

I figured a collar wasn't used (unless a significant MOI warrents it), could make achieving a patent airway difficult.

Thanks for letting me know. I can never learn enough!
 
Ideally, there would be an ET tube, which, if secured and placed properly, would be a patent airway.
 
We use the Comb-Tube. The lab instructor in our course says to use the OPA until you get into the truck and then switch to the Combi. I've heard other say go for the Combi ASAP. Which do you do?
 
PeteBlair said:
We use the Comb-Tube. The lab instructor in our course says to use the OPA until you get into the truck and then switch to the Combi. I've heard other say go for the Combi ASAP. Which do you do?
Click to expand...

I'm not a PI or an expert by any means, but the combi has several benefits over the OPA.

1. can prevent aspiration
2. provides a better patent airway
3. Easier to ventilate pt.


Neither would be used if a pt. has a gag reflex.

I've never been on a prehospital code where suction was not required. Given the two choices, I think the combi is a much better option for preventing aspiration. Out of hospital arrest survival rates are poor as is. Out of hospital arrest with aspiration is even worse.

Also, the combi is a direct hookup to the BVM, whereas the BVM mask still needs to be stabilized using an OP airway. It's alot easier to bag a combi than it is an OPA.

A combi takes less than a minute to place, inflate, check, and use. Given the two, I'd go combi-tube first.
 
For CPR, you don't need anything on the board but the board itself. If they code on you on your stretcher in the back of the truck, don't need anything at all. The mattress is hard enough that you can do effective CPR on it without any aids. The CPR board is, in my humble yet honest opinion, a waste of much needed space on an ambulance if you have a LSB within easy reach.
 
rmellish said:
I'm not a PI or an expert by any means, but the combi has several benefits over the OPA.

1. can prevent aspiration
2. provides a better patent airway
3. Easier to ventilate pt.


Neither would be used if a pt. has a gag reflex.

I've never been on a prehospital code where suction was not required. Given the two choices, I think the combi is a much better option for preventing aspiration. Out of hospital arrest survival rates are poor as is. Out of hospital arrest with aspiration is even worse.

Also, the combi is a direct hookup to the BVM, whereas the BVM mask still needs to be stabilized using an OP airway. It's alot easier to bag a combi than it is an OPA.

A combi takes less than a minute to place, inflate, check, and use. Given the two, I'd go combi-tube first.
Click to expand...

Check off sheets say to use OPA first then go to Combi. It doesn't mention where, but it is "assumed" right then and right there. Don't move the pt first. If you did, I'd flunk you... right then right there.
 
So at a code, with CPR started, at a BLS level, try the OPA first?

Assuming no gag reflex.
 
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