Submitted via IRC for SoyCow8317
New research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark shows that the quality of chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be improved by using either a smartphone app or by using the song 'La Macarena' as a mental memory aid.
Improving the quality of compressions performed during CPR can significantly increase the chance of survival and lead to better health outcomes. The goal of the study was to compare the effectiveness of a smartphone metronome application, and a musical mental metronome in the form of the song "La Macarena" at improving the quality of chest compressions. Both the app and the song provide a regular rhythm to help time compressions.
The team selected a group of 164 medical students from the University of Barcelona to perform continuous chest compressions on a manikin for 2 minutes. Subjects either received no guidance (control), were provided with the smartphone app (App group), or were asked to perform compressions to the mental beat of the song "La Macarena" (Macarena group).
The authors conclude that: "Both the app and using mental memory aid 'La Macarena' improved the quality of chest compressions by increasing the proportion of adequate rate but not the depth of compressions. The metronome app was more effective but with a significant onset delay."
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180601225705.htm
[Editor's Comment: This is not a new idea, there was publicity a few years back in the UK for a similar thing but using "Staying Alive" by the BeeGees for the musical beat, and another editor was told during medical training to use "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Both seem more appropriate titles than '"La Macarena" - perhaps this is just a twist on whatever music is currently popular. Of course, 'using an app' might replace 'using a computer' as the most pointless claim to being different.]
(Score: 2) by goodie on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:30PM (2 children)
The nurse used the Staying Alive beat to explain the frequency of the cardiac massage to perform. Not sure I'd be singing such an aptly named song if my kid needed it but at the moment we had a good laugh...
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Friday June 08 2018, @04:27AM (1 child)
I remember it via The Office [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by jazz director on Friday June 08 2018, @09:23AM
I prefer the Simpsons [youtube.com] take on this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:33PM (6 children)
I thought it was the US that used "Staying Alive" while Britain used "Nelly the Elephant":
"Nelly the elephant packed her trunk and said good-bye to the circus,
off she ran with a trumpety-trump, trump, trump, trump."
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:36PM (4 children)
"Stayin' Alive" here in Canada as well.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:46PM (3 children)
While i'm doing CPR, i like to sing "I'm just a sweet transvestite": really freaks out the
victimperson. They come back from the brink of death and i'm licking my lips and grinning down at them like i'm Tim Curry and they're Rocky......--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
I'm gonna call bullshit on that ever having happened :P
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday June 07 2018, @07:31PM
You must need some help from our artificial intelligence friends: you don't seem able to identify humour on your own.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday June 07 2018, @11:20PM
Reminds me of a first aid course I was at, where one of the trainees asked, after being told to start compressions in the sequence DRABC*, "but what of the patient gets up and hits you?"
It took a while for us to realise they were serious. After going over the meaning of the "R" several times, they refused to believe the patient wouldn't be upset and complaining!
*twenty five years ago, the "S" and the second "D" hadn't been added
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:16PM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snow on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:36PM (1 child)
"Oh shit! He needs CPR!"
"Hmm... I read a story that there was a new app for that. Let's see here... Where is that app store icon? Oh there it is! Search for "CPR". Hmm... I don't see it here... Oh! There it is! Installing now.. ... ... ... ... ... ... Done! It needs permissions. Camera. GPS. Contacts. Phone access. I don't know how I feel about this, but this guy is dying here. I guess I'll just accept it for now."
"Don't bother... he's dead"
(Score: 4, Funny) by VLM on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:50PM
I know its a decade late to the party but you're missing a "you're holding it wrong" joke, somehow.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:37PM
This is a trick. We've always been at war with Euroanaesthesia.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:37PM (5 children)
Both seem more appropriate titles than '"La Macarena" - perhaps this is just a twist on whatever music is currently popular.
Yes, having actually heard the song within the last 20 years makes it a bit more effective.
('Staying Alive' was the one I learned)
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:40PM
Also, do not use EDM unless you wish for the patient to explode.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:42PM (3 children)
Somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' Macarena!
somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' Macerena!
somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' somethin' Macerena!
HEY MACARENA!
It's been a long time since I was in Jr. High.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:48PM (1 child)
You mean there's ACTUAL real words to that song OTHER THAN "HEY MACARENA!"?
I basically just heard NANANANANANANA HEY MACARENA!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Thursday June 07 2018, @11:27PM
Your version is what everyone sings whenever I've heard it.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:25PM
Going by syllables I know exactly the same amount of 'Staying Alive' as I do of 'Macarena'.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:44PM (1 child)
Thus saith Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
I'm not sure a golden oldie from 25 years ago that last charted 21 years ago is "currently popular." Other opinions on this may, however, vary.
It is admittedly 23 years more recent that Another One Bites the Dust (1980) and 26 years more recent than Stayin' Alive (1977).
Amen, brother. Right up there with "Let's amend that patent to say 'on the internet'; we'll make a fortune."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @04:48PM
Blockchain. Needs more blockchain. And quantum.
(Score: 4, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:13PM (3 children)
Most (tempted to say all modern) AED's provide a metronome beat as well.
Me, I've just practiced counting seconds "one thousand one, one thousand two..." Two beats per second works, as the range is 100-120 BPM, delivered at a rate of 30:2 breaths unless two persons are working an infant (15:2) so long as an advanced airway (endotracheal tube, King, etc.) isn't established.
But in reality any song with a 100-120 beat or multiples thereof works, or those that are close enough. (And with all of them you have to deliver adequate compression depth and allow for adequate recoil) Per jog.fm, any of the following should work:
P!nk - Raise Your Glass
Lady GaGa - Bad Romance
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Lady GaGa - Poker Face
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell)
Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Taio Cruz & Ludacris - Break Your Heart
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
Of special note... :)
Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
Bon Jovi - It's My Life [Bad Medicine also works from another site]
Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
The Fray - How to Save a Life
Europe - The Final Countdown
C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat [Anyone who's ever done CPR should relate...]
Queen - Under Pressure
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
Staying Alive, like Macarena, Dancing Queen, Suddenly I See, One Week, Don't Let Me Get Me, and Superstition are all at the lower end of 100 BPM, but they work too.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 08 2018, @01:57AM
Pretty much the same here - count the seconds.
What is almost always neglected when discussing CPR, is how exhausting the work is. As a strong, healthy 25 year old man, my time was limited. 15 minutes of CPR wears a man out. A team of two extends that time quite nicely - one does compressions, the other ventilates, and they swap off as necessary. Even so, the effectiveness decreases as time goes on.
Legally speaking, once you begin CPR, you can't ever stop, or you may be sued. Practically speaking, if you haven't revived the patient within a half hour, you've lost him.
Of course, for the vast majority of the population, a half hour is more than sufficient for an ambulance to arrive, with a crew with equipment and up-to-date training. So, that first half hour may or may not have "saved" the patient, in that, he lasted long enough for modern equipment to save his life.
On the other hand - I have arrived at accidents with dozens of onlookers, none of whom would respond to requests for assistance. * Each one looks at you, thinks, very breifly, then turns away.
* When requesting assistance, it is necessary to single out an individual, and ASK THAT INDIVIDUAL to perform some specific task. A general announcement, "Someone call 911" is too impersonal. Looking into the eyes of an individual, and demanding that he call 911 usually works. More involved tasks - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. "You, hold this bandage, and press!" often evokes an "ick!" response, and you get zero assistance. No one wants to touch a victim, or a patient.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @08:33AM
Any song from Pink Floyd?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @08:42AM
THANK YOU.
Until I got to your post, I've seen people mentioning different songs, all known by very specific age groups, none of which include me. Though your list does have one that I should know well enough to be useful.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday June 07 2018, @05:16PM (1 child)
Somehow I don't think they wanted us to remember "fuck this shit; pull the plug"
In the military we had a medic trying to train us who had some overly long and involved joke about CPR has the same rhythm as sex so if you need CPR from a M.I. soldier then you're outta luck. Or he was making fun of cooks or NBC NCOs or armorers or any of the numerous MOS or extra duties that get made fun of (its been a few decades).
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @06:09PM
Ooooooh, you were in the military! That explains why you're so fucked up and have a tenuous grasp on many aspects of reality. Poor brainwashed cannon fodder.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Thursday June 07 2018, @08:56PM (1 child)
The rhythm you choose is NOWHERE NEAR as important as deciding to, starting and maintaining CPR in the right instance. Literally you could do it to Soft Kitty, just fecking do it.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday June 08 2018, @05:13PM
I might actually know all the words to Soft Kitty. Assuming you're thinking about the one I am. I'm thinking that would definitely get some stares, if you were singing that under your breath while performing CPR.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"