Annals of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effectiveness of Lay Bystander Hands-Only Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on a Mattress versus the Floor: A Randomized Cross-Over Trial.
Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation increases the likelihood of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival by more than two-fold. A common barrier to the prompt initiation of compressions is moving victims to the floor, but compression quality on a "floor" versus a "mattress" has not been tested among lay bystanders. ⋯ The mean compression depth was significantly smaller on the mattress and with female bystanders. Further research is needed to understand the benefit of moving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims to the floor relative to the detrimental effect of delaying chest compressions.