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Determining the pulse for infant CPR: time for a change?

1991; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 156; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

Candace J. Lee, Linda J. Bullock,

Respiratory Support and Mechanisms

The accepted standard for determining cardiac arrest in infants is the use of palpation of the brachial pulse to detect pulselessness. The investigators have observed that CPR-certified individuals have difficulty locating the brachial pulse in infants. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if a more effective way exists for assessing the pulse in an infant. Of the 102 subjects tested, 84 correctly assessed the apical pulse by placing a naked ear against the chest wall, whereas only 48 correctly palpated the brachial pulse. The study results demonstrated that there was a statistically significant (p less than 0.001) difference between the two methods for assessing pulses in infants. This indicates that the apical pulse method is a faster and more accurate method for locating the pulse in an infant, and should be used during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.