Factors affecting chest wall slipperiness during cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A controlled experimental study

During cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the chest wall may become slippery due to the presence of water or gel, potentially affecting compression quality. This study aimed to evaluate the degree of slipperiness under such conditions.

In order to measure the coefficient of static friction, silicone artificial skin pad was placed on a flat surface and a 2 kg object was placed on it. The object was slowly pulled in a horizontal direction using a measuring instrument. The silicone pad and latex gloves were attached to objects to create conditions similar to bare hands and latex gloves. For each condition, experiments were performed in a state with water or gel applied to 0%, 50%, and 100% of the object surface.

The silicone pad with gel or water applied was up to 8.2 times more slippery than a clean surface. The lowest static friction coefficient was obtained with the silicone pad attached to a static object with gel applied to the entire contact surface; the highest static friction coefficient was obtained with the silicone pad attached to a static object with no water or gel applied. In ascending order, static friction coefficients were lowest for silicone pad and gel (100%), followed by latex glove and gel (100%), silicon pad and water (100%), latex glove and gel (50%), silicon pad and gel (50%), latex glove and water (100%), latex glove and water (50%), silicon pad and water (50%), latex glove only.

When performing chest compression, if water or gel is applied on hands or gloves, the surfaces are more slippery than a clean surface.