Chest compression quality during CPR of potential contagious patients wearing personal protection equipment

In this study we aimed to investigate whether changing rescuers wearing N95 masks every 1 min instead of the standard CPR change over time of 2 min would make a difference in effective chest compressions.

This study was a randomized controlled mannequin study. Participants were selected from healthcare staff. They were divided into two groups of two people in each group. The scenario was implemented on CPR mannequin representing patient with asystolic arrest, that measured compression depth, compression rate, recoil, and correct hand position. Two different scenarios were prepared. In Scenario 1, the rescuers were asked to change chest compression after 1 min. In Scenario 2, standard CPR was applied. The participants' vital parameters, mean compression rate, correct compression rate/ratio, total number of compressions, compression depth, correct recoil/ratio, correct hand position/ratio, mean no-flow time, and total CPR time were recorded.

The study hence included 14 teams each for scenarios, with a total of 56 participants. In each scenario, 14 participants were physicians and 14 participants were women. Although there was no difference in the first minute of the cycles starting from the fourth cycle, a statistically significant difference was observed in the second minute in all cycles except the fifth cycle.

Changing the rescuer every 1 min instead of every 2 min while performing CPR with full PPE may prevent the decrease in compression quality that may occur as the resuscitation time gets longer.