Current OHCA resuscitation guidelines recommend a 30:2 strategy of CPR with BVM ventilations.
Idris and colleagues performed a secondary analysis of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium CCC clinical trial to determine the incidence of BVM ventilation during a 30:2 CPR strategy and assess the association of detectable ventilations with patient outcomes.
In 1,976 patients, the authors found that only 40% of patients had detectable ventilations (> 250 ml) in more than half of CPR pauses.
For those patients with detectable ventilations in more than 50% of pauses, there was an association with increased survival to hospital admission, increased survival to hospital discharge, and increased survival with favorable neurologic outcome.
The current study highlights the importance of proper BVM ventilation during OHCA resuscitation and the opportunity to improve performance of this vital skill.
References
Idris AH, et al. Bag-valve-mask ventilation and survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A multicenter study. Circulation. 2023;148:1847-56.
