Abstract
Background
The 2010 cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines increased the importance of
external chest compression. However, the best hand position to be the compressing
one has not been identified.
Objectives
To investigate the effects of dominant or nondominant external chest compression hand
position during CPR.
Methods
Medical students performed five cycles of conventional CPR and completed one questionnaire.
The CPR performances were manually evaluated, and detailed aspects of the external
chest compression quality were assessed via the SimMan® Essential system (Laerdal
China Ltd., Hangzhou, China).
Results
One hundred fifty-seven students participated in the nondominant hand (NH) group,
and 68 students participated in the dominant hand (DH) group. The manual evaluations
revealed no differences between the two groups. The proportion of chest compressions
“above 100 cpm [compressions per minute]” was higher in the DH group than in the NH
group (97% vs. 92%, respectively, p = 0.002). The frequency distributions of the chest compression rates were also significantly
different between the two groups (p < 0.0001). The distribution of the NH group was concentrated within “130–139” cpm,
whereas this distribution was concentrated within “140–149” cpm in the DH group. The
chest compression depth of the DH group was deeper than that of the NH group (p = 0.001). The depth of the fifth cycle was significantly decreased compared with
those of cycles 1, 2, and 3 in the NH group. A greater number of full chest recoils
were observed in the NH group (p = 0.02).
Conclusion
The dominant hand position during CPR was associated with a higher chest compression
rate, a greater chest compression depth, and delayed fatigue.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 31, 2015
Accepted:
December 21,
2014
Received in revised form:
September 28,
2014
Received:
June 10,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
