A comparison of infant ventilation methods performed by prehospital personnel

By comparing mouth-to-mouth ventilation to other methods, we tested whether there are significant differences among infant mannequin ventilation methods performed by emergency medical technicians-paramedics (EMT-Ps). Fifty-nine participants were evaluated in the performance of six ventilation methods; methods studied were mouth-to-mouth; two mouth-to-mask devices; and infant, pediatric, and adult bag-valve-mask devices. By measuring each breath, the percentage of acceptable ventilations in predetermined ranges, 5 to 25 mL/kg or 10 to 20 mL/kg, was calculated. Methods were compared using repeat measures ANOVA testing. Correlation between ventilation performance and the experience of personnel was expressed as the Pearson correlation coefficient. There were no significant differences in performance between methods, except for inadequate ventilation with the Laerdal Pocket Mask (P less than .05) from poor mask fit. The correlation between years of prehospital experience and the number of resuscitations versus ventilation performance was poor. Single rescuer, EMT-Ps can successfully ventilate an infant mannequin with various size resuscitation bags. The Laerdal Pocket Mask is an ineffective device for infant mannequin ventilation and should not be recommended for infant resuscitation.