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From 1st January rescue breaths for adults will once again be taught in our relevant first aid courses and will be part of the mandatory assessments to pass a course.
You may have seen, that the Resuscitation Council UK has recently changed its guidance for adult CPR, reverting back to giving 2 rescue breaths after 30 chest compressions. This is due to the reduction in COVID-19 prevalence, thanks to the vaccination effort, and new evidence around the likelihood of catching COVID-19 from procedures, such as CPR.
We at St John Ambulance have looked at this information and decided that we will be following the Resuscitation Council UK and are bringing back rescue breaths for adults to our advice and teaching.
Further information will go out to delegates in January including a free fresher module on how to give CPR with rescue breaths.
At the start of the pandemic when numbers were high and less was known about Covid 19 it was advised by the Resuscitation Council UK that compression-only-CPR was delivered in both training and in the event of an incident.
The Resuscitation Council UK has changed its guidance for CPR, reverting to giving 2 rescue breaths after 30 chest compressions. This is due to the reduction in COVID-19 prevalence, thanks to the vaccination effort, and new evidence around the likelihood of catching COVID-19 from procedures, such as CPR.
All faces go through a cleaning process before they are used in the classroom, often involving high-temperature cleaning to ensure all germs are killed. Before use, you can use a wipe to clean over the faces to eliminate any risk.
Due to the rigorous cleaning process, all equipment will be sanitised for use and the risk is incredibly low.
This is impossible as the lungs have a one-way valve, ensuring that no particulates will pass in the opposite direction.
Students will set up the equipment to show the rigorous cleaning process and they can ensure that the equipment they are using is cleaned to their satisfaction, otherwise, some students may wish to reclean if this has been done by someone else.
The masks are not made of latex, but if you are concerned you can use a face shield.
A face shield will be offered for practising rescue breaths, this is a plastic sheet to cover the face with a gauze piece for the air to go through into the casualty. If you wish to bring or purchase* a Resusi-mask (pocket mask) this is also possible these are plastic masks with a one-way non-return valve.
*Stock permitting
The wipes are alcohol-free and used in hospitals. They are kind to the skin but are effective in under thirty seconds and provide long-lasting germ-killing. They are also biodegradable. For further information please ask the trainer to see the container and list of contents.
Every course and face get washed and cleaned and the lungs are disposed of. The next course fully wipes over the manikin before use and insert new lungs.
Gold standard CPR is combining rescue breaths and chest compressions, this gives the casualty the best chance of survival, however, compression-only-CPR is far better than doing nothing so if you are unable or unwilling to give breaths in the event of CPR being needed please give compressions to give that casualty a chance. (Please note that, during training rescue breaths are a requirement of the assessment criteria so you must demonstrate that you can perform them).
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