Performing Simulated Basic Life Support without Seeing: Blind vs. Blindfolded People.

Santiago Martínez-Isasi,Vinay M Nadkarni,Roberto Barcala-Furelos,Antonio Rodríguez-Núñez,Cristian Abelairas-Gómez,Candela Gómez-González,Felipe Fernández-Méndez,Aida Carballo-Fazanes,Cristina Jorge-Soto

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010724

Abstract

Previous pilot experience has shown the ability of visually impaired and blind people (BP) to learn basic life support (BLS), but no studies have compared their abilities with blindfolded people (BFP) after participating in the same instructor-led, real-time feedback training. Twenty-nine BP and 30 BFP participated in this quasi-experimental trial. Training consisted of a 1 h theoretical and practical training session with an additional 30 min afterwards, led by nurses with prior experience in BLS training of various collectives. Quantitative quality of chest compressions (CC), AED use and BLS sequence were evaluated by means of a simulation scenario. BP’s median time to start CC was less than 35 s. Global and specific components of CC quality were similar between groups, except for compression rate (BFP: 123.4 + 15.2 vs. BP: 110.8 + 15.3 CC/min; p = 0.002). Mean compression depth was below the recommended target in both groups, and optimal CC depth was achieved by 27.6% of blind and 23.3% of blindfolded people (p = 0.288). Time to discharge was significantly longer in BFP than BP (86.0 + 24.9 vs. 66.0 + 27.0 s; p = 0.004). Thus, after an adapted and short training program, blind people were revealed to have abilities comparable to those of blindfolded people in learning and performing the BLS sequence and CC.

Highlights

The sample was composed of 59 subjects, 29 blind people (BP) (16 male and 13 female, mean age: 53.7 + 12.3 years old) and 30 blindfolded people (BFP) (4 male and 26 female, mean age: 32.3 + 12.6 years old)
Regarding the basic life support (BLS) sequence (Figure 1), participants’ performed well, with a similar performance in both groups for response, breathing, EMS alert and chest compressions (CC), while we observed that BFP outperformed BP for “secure the scene” (19 (65.5%) BP vs. 27 (90%) BFP; p = 0.024)
Our results indicate that BP may have problems learning some steps of the BLS, namely

Summary

Introduction

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a significant public health problem. In. Europe, over 275,000 cases of OHCA are recorded every year with high mortality rates (around 75%) [1]. Mortality and outcomes are mainly associated with the time between the beginning of cardiac arrest (CA) and the start of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) [2]. To train laypeople in basic life support (BLS) skills in order to ensure an early response in case of OHCA, and improve the victims’ survival and neurologic outcome, 4.0/).

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion